) 


l 


NOTICE. 


Iiie  following  Life  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross  has 
been  compiled  from  that  written  by  Fra  Joseph  of 
Jesus  and  Mary,  who  entered  the  order  of  Carmel  in 
1595,  three  years  after  the  death  of  the  saint.  Fra 
Joseph  was  appointed  annalist,  and  had  access  to 
all  the  papers  necessary  for  his  work.  But  his 
life  of  the  saint  was  not  regarded  with  favour  by 
his  brethren,  and  the  publication  of  it  took  place 
without  the  sanction  of  his  superiors,  who  after¬ 
wards  deprived  him  of  his  charge  of  annalist.  The 
truthfulness  of  the  chronicler  is  not  disputed, 
though  subsequent  biographers  of  the  saint  correct 
him  occasionally  as  to  names  of  persons  and  dates. 
But  these  mistakes  may  have  been  made  by  those 
who  had  the  charge  of  the  publication. 

The  great  chronicle  of  the  order,  by  Fra 
Francis  de  Santa  Maria,  and  the  life  by  Fra 
Jerome  of  St.  Joseph,  though  not  so  full,  are  pro- 


IV 


PREFACE. 


bably  more  accurate.  Of  these  the  present  writer 
has  made  use,  as  well  as  of  the  Italian  life,  by  the 
Padre  Marco  di  San  Francesco  of  the  order  of 
Carmel.  This  latter  life  is  written  with  the 
utmost  care,  and  the  author  has  taken  pains  to 
ascertain  the  dates  of  the  events  he  records.  It  is 
a  most  reverent  and  clear  history  of  the  saint,  and 
would  be  probably  regarded  by  most  people  as  far 
better  than  the  more  voluminous  one  of  the  French 
Carmelite,  Dosithee  de  Saint  Alexis. 


August  26,  1873. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

pa<jb 

The  Order  of  our  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel  — St.  Simon 
Stock — The  Mitigated  Rule — St.  Teresa — Maria  de 
Ocampo — The  Prior-General  of  the  Carmelites — The 
reform  of  St.  Teresa — Fra  Antonio  de  Heredia — St. 
Teresa  in  Medina  del  Campo— Fra  John  of  St.  Mathias  1 

CHAPTER  II. 

Family  of  the  Saint — Francis  de  Yepes — Poverty — Don 
Alonso  Alvarez — Juan  de  Yepes  at  school — his  longing 
for  a  religious  life — enters  the  monastery  of  the  Car¬ 
melites — profession — is  sent  to  Salamanca — ordained 
priest— returns  to  Medina— intends  to  become  a  Car¬ 
thusian  . . 13 

CHAPTER  III. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  persuaded  by  St.  Teresa  to  become 
a  friar  of  her  reform— Duruelo — St.  John  of  the  Cross 
in  Valladolid — goes  to  Duruelo  .  .  .  .  .  36 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  saint  in  Duruelo — Beginning  of  the  reform  of  the 
friars — Change  of  names— Life  in  Duruelo — St.  Teresa 
visits  the  friars — Monastery  of  Pastrana — Fra  Balta- 
sar  of  J esus — The  friars  remove  from  Duruelo  to  Man- 
zera — Novices  of  the  saint — St.  John  goes  to  Pastrana 
— to  Alcala  de  Henares — Fra  Pedro  Fernandez — Fra 
Angel  of  St.  Gabriel — Fra  Dominic  Banes — Francis 
de  Yepes  ........  43 


a 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

PAGE 

St.  Teresa  sends  for  St.  John  of  the  Cross  to  Avila — Re¬ 
formation  of  the  monastery — Illness  of  a  nun — Trances 
— Exorcisms — A  learned  nun — Conversion  of  sinners — 

The  saint  goes  to  Segovia . 65 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  friars  of  the  mitigation — Fra  J erome  Tostado — Chap¬ 
ter  of  the  mitigation — Decrees  against  the  reform — Fra 
Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God — Chapter  of  Almodovar 
• — Death  of  the  Nuncio — Troubles  in  the  monastery  of 
the  Incarnation — St.  John  of  the  Cross  made  a  prisoner  80 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Trial — Imprisonment — Hardships  of  the  prison — Adonde 
Te  escondiste — Light  in  the  cell — Vision  of  our  Lady 
— Preparations  for  escape  .  .  .  .  .92 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  escape — Dangers — The  saint  takes  refuge  in  the 
Monastery  of  St.  Joseph  —  Don  Pedro  Gonzalez  de 
Mendoza  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .  .  .101 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Troubles  in  the  Order — Chapter  of  Almodovar — St.  John  * 
of  the  Cross  made  Vicar  of  Mount  Calvary — visits  Veae 
— reforms  the  monastery — Mendicancy — Poverty  — 
Writes  on  mystical  theology . 112 

CHAPTER  X. 

Foundation  of  Baeza — Poverty  of  the  house — Miraculous 
succours — The  saint  at  Mass  .....  129 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Peace  restored  to  the  order — Election  of  Fra  J  erome — The 
saint  returns  to  Baeza  from  the  chapter — made  Prior 
of  Granada— his  visits  of  ceremony — discourages  beg¬ 
ging — his  charity . 141 


CONTENTS. 


vn 


CHAPTER,  XII. 

_  PAGE 

Anne  of  Jesus — The  saint  founds  a  house  m  Granada — is 
insulted  in  the  street — watches  over  the  novices  under 
Anne  of  Jesus . 154 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Troubles  in  the  order — Fra  Nicolas  of  Jesus  Maria — Chap¬ 
ter  of  Almodovar — The  saint  opposes  foreign  missions 
— Famine— Writings  of  the  saint — Foundation  in  Ma¬ 
laga — Restoration  of  a  nun  to  health — Mary  of  Christ.  161 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  saint  in  the  chapter  of  Lisbon — Election  of  a  new  pro¬ 
vincial— Prophecy  of  the  saint — Mary  of  the  Visitation 
— The  saint  made  vicar  of  Andalucia — corrects  certain 
abuses . 171 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Foundation  in  Segovia — The  saint  in  Caravaca — visits  Pen- 
uela — founds  a  monastery  in  Cordova — visits  Seville — 
Miraculous  escape — Fra  Martin  and  the  novices — Anne 
of  Jesus  goes  to  Madrid — Bujalance — Caravaca  .  .  181 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Miraculous  light— The  chapter  of  Valladolid — Election  of 
the  saint  to  be  prior  of  Granada — Picture  of  the  saint — 
Foretells  the  canonisation  of  St.  Teresa — Fra  Jerome 
of  the  Mother  of  God — Division  of  the  province — The 
saint  elected  prior  of  Segovia  .....  196 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  first  general  chapter  of  the  reform — St.  John  of  the 
Cross  prior  of  Segovia — Fra  Nicolas — The  discontented 
friar — The  disobedient  preacher — Francis  de  Urena — 
Death  of  Catherine  Alvarez — Austerities  and  prayer  of 
the  saint  202 


Ylll 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

TAGE 

Discontent  of  the  nnns — Resolution  of  the  friars — Fra  Luis 
de  Leon — Royal  interference — St.  John  of  the  Cross 
neglected  by  his  brethren — retii*es  to  Penuela — illness 
— goes  to  Ubeda . 216 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

A  great  cross — Illness  of  the  saint—  Harshness  of  the  prior 
of  Ubeda — Visit  of  Fra  Antonio  ....  230 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Fra  Antonio  visits  the  saint — The  prior  relents — Doha 
Clara  de  Benavides — Ines  and  Catherine  de  Salazar  .  242 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  approach  of  death — The  saint’s  humility — Fra  Anto¬ 
nio’s  visit — The  last  sacraments — Death  .  .  .  250 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

The  funeral — Sermon — Incorruption  of  the  body — removal 
of  it  to  Madrid  and  Segovia — contest  for  the  possession 
of  it — Canonisation  .......  258 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Order  of  otir  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel  —  St.  Simon 
Stock — The  Mitigated  Rule — St.  Teresa — Maria  de 
Ocampo — The  Prior-General  of  the  Carmelites — The 
reform  of  St.  Teresa — Fra  Antonio  de  Heredia — St. 
Teresa  in  Medina  del  Campo  —  Fra  John  of  St. 
Mathias. 

The  Order  of  our  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel  had  its 
beginnings  in  the  East,  where,  for  many  genera¬ 
tions,  it  grew  and  flourished,  unknown  to  the 
dwellers  in  the  West.  From  the  day  of  the  great 
prophets  Elias  and  Eliseus — so  runs  the  venerable 
tradition  of  Carmel — the  holy  mountain  was  peo¬ 
pled  by  hermits  who,  by  a  life  of  prayer  and 
penance,  according  to  their  measure,  shadowed 
forth,  from  generation  to  generation,  under  the 
old  law,  the  greater  graces  of  the  new.  Some  of 
those  hermits,  hearing  the  voice  of  the  Baptist 
crying  in  the  wilderness,  were  thereby  made  ready 

B 


2 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  ' 


for  the  coming  of  our  Lord ;  and  again  in  J erusa- 
lem,  on  the  great  day  of  Pentecost,  hearing  the 
blessed  Apostles  proclaim  the  new  law,  were  con¬ 
verted  to  the  faith  of  Christ.  On  their  return  to 
the  holy  mountain,  they  raised  an  oratory  in 
Carmel  to  the  honour  of  our  Lady  whom  they  had 
seen  in  Jerusalem,  in  the  very  place  where  Elias 
stood  when  he  saw  the  little  cloud  coming  up 
from  the  sea,  bringing  with  it  the  long-desired 
rain  wThich  God  had  so  long  withheld  from  the 
earth. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  the 
Brethren  of  Blessed  Mary  of  Mount  Carmel  began 
to  be  heard  of  in  Europe.  The  troubles  in  the 
Holy  Land,  and  the  growing  weakness  of  the  Cru¬ 
saders,  as  well  as  the  growing  strength  of  the 
infidels,  forced  some  of  them  to  depart  from 
Carmel  of  the  Sea,  and  to  seek  a  refuge  in  more 
quiet  lands.  Among  these  was  Balph  Freeborn, 
a  Northumbrian  by  birth,  who  had  gone  to  Pales¬ 
tine  as  a  soldier  of  the  cross  to  fight  the  Saracens, 
and  who,  in  Carmel,  had  laid  aside  the  armour  of 
earthly  warfare  for  the  peaceful  habit  of  the  friar. 
He  returned  to  Europe  with  one  of  his  brethren, 
in  the  company,  and  under  the  protection,  of  two 
’Englishmen,  Lord  Yesci  and  Lord  Grey  of  Codnor. 
The  former  gave  him  land  for  a  monastery,  near 
Alnwick,  where,  in  the  year  1240,  he  founded  the 
Priory  of  Hulne.  Lord  Grey  gave  land  in  Kent 
for  the  same  purpose,  and  there  the  Priory  of 
Aylesford  was  built  at  the  same  time.  In  the 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


3 


latter  house,  five  years  afterwards  (a.d.  1245),  the 
first  chapter  of  the  Carmelites  in  Europe  was 
held,  memorable  for  the  election  of  St.  Simon 
Stock  as  Prior- General  of  the  whole  order.*  The 
friars  multiplied  in  England,  and  passed  over  into 
Ireland ;  hut  it  does  not  appear  that  they  ever  had 
a  house  in  Scotland. 

Aimeri  of  Limoges,  Patriarch  of  Antioch  in  the 
twelfth  century,  is  said  to  have  brought  the  hermits 
of  Carmel  together  under  the  government  of  one 
superior,  and  to  have  given  them  a  rule  of  life. 
Under  Brocardo*,  the  second  prior,  that  rule  was 
either  laid  aside  for  another,  given  by  Albert  of 
Parma,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  or  was  by  that 
Patriarch  modified,  during  the  pontificate  of  In¬ 
nocent  III. 

The'rule  given  by  Albert  of  Parma  to  the  friars 
who  dwelt  by  the  well  of  Elias  was  confirmed  by 
Honorius  III.  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1226 ;  hut 
when  the  friars  settled  in  Europe,  the  rule  given 
to  hermits  on  Mount  Carmel,  whose  life  was  a  life 
of  contemplation,  became  difficult  to  keep.  Two 
friars  were  therefore  sent  to  the  Holy  See — proba¬ 
bly  by  the  general  chapter  of  Aylesford,  in  1245 — 
to  beg  for  directions.  In  1248  Innocent  IY.  con¬ 
firmed  the  rule  anew,  hut  with  certain  corrections 
and  modifications ;  and  commanded  the  friars  to  * 
observe  it.  The  observance  of  the  mitigated  rule 
in  the  course  of  time  became  a  heavier  burden  than 
the  friars  were  able  to  carry.  They  therefore  sub- 
*  Iteyner,  Apostolat.  Ben.  p.  164. 


4 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


mitted  the  rule  again  to  the  correction  of  the  Holy 
See;  and  Eugenius  IV.,  in  1482,  at  their  request, 
and  in  consideration  of  human  weakness,  mitigated 
the  severities  thereof.  From  that  time  forth  the 
friars  were  allowed  to  eat  flesh,  and  to  be  out  of 
their  cells,  hut  still  within  the  enclosure.  The 
fast  from  September  14  to  Easter  in  the  following 
year  was  dispensed  with,  and  the  friars  were  hound 
to  fast  only  in  Advent  and  Lent,  and  on  the  other 
days  observed  in  the  Church.  Other  mitigations 
were  afterwards  made,  which  were  sanctioned  by 
Pius  II.  in  1459,  and  by  Sixtus  IY.  in  1476. 
The  rule  was  perhaps  not  severe  now,  hut  the  ob¬ 
servance  of  it  was  no  doubt  exact,  and  the  friars 
had  the  sanction  of  the  Holy  See. 

It  was  under  this  rule  that  the  Carmelites,  in  . 
Spain  and  elsewhere,  lived  when  St.  Teresa  made 
her  profession  in  the  Monastery  of  the  Incarnation 
in  Avila.  She  by  degrees,  as  she  was  raised  to 
higher  states  of  prayer,  longed  for  a  stricter  way  of 
life,  that  she  might  become  a  more  perfect  sacri¬ 
fice  to  our  Lord,  and  do  something  for  the  honour 
of  God,  and  win  more  souls  to  His  service.  She 
heard,  too,  of  the  outbreak  of  heresy  and  of  the 
flood  of  false  opinions  which  had  covered  the  earth, 
and  in  her  silence  her  soul  took  fire. 

In  her  monastery  at  Avila,  it  was  difficult 
for  her  to  be  much  alone,  for  enclosure  was  not 
very  rigidly  observed ;  moreover,  her  superiors 
sent  her  from  timo  to  time  to  the  houses  of 
people  living  in  the  world.  This  was  a  sore 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


5 


distress  to  the  saint,  for  she  wished  to  keep  her 
rule  with  great  strictness,  knowing  as  she  did  that 
her  first  duty  was  to  follow  her  vocation.*  Besides, 
such  strictness  as  she  longed  for  was  not  possible 
in  that  house,  for  there  were  more  than  a  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  nuns  in  it,  all  of  whom  could  not 
be  compelled  to  lead  a  severe  life,  because  their 
profession  bound  them  only  to  the  mitigated 
rule. 

The  saint  knew,  indeed,  that  the  rule,  though 
not  observed  anywhere  in  its  original  strictness, 
but  according  to  the  custom  of  the  order,  sanc¬ 
tioned  by  the  Pope,  was  a  safe  way  of  salvation. 
Nevertheless  she  longed  to  do  more  than  she  was 
bound  to  do  by  the  rule  under  which  she  was  liv¬ 
ing  ;  and,  while  pondering  the  matter  in  her  heart, 
prepared  others  to  enter  with  her  upon  her  great 
work  of  travelling  by  the  strait  path  for  which 
the  few  are  chosen. 

One  day  in  her  cell,  when,  the  difficulties  of  a 
life  of  prayer  and  retirement  in  the  Monastery  of 
the  Incarnation  were  spoken  of,  her  niece,  Maria 
de  Ocampo,  not  then  a  religious,  in  the  simplicity 
and  sincerity  of  innocent  childhood,  said  that  if 
they  who  were  talking  of  such  high  things  wished  to 
imitate  in  earnest  the  barefooted  nuns  of  St.  Fran¬ 
cis,  means  might  be  found  for  the  foundation  of  a 
monastery,  and  she  herself  would  give  a  thousand 
ducats  for  that  purpose.  Maria  de  Ocampo  was  a 
child,  and  hitherto  had  not  shown  any  wish  to  be 

*  Life,  c.  xxxii.  §  2. 


6 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


a  nun ;  on  the  contrary,  she  was  fond  of  dress,  and 
such  amusements  as  she  could  find — honest,  how¬ 
ever,  and  true.  But  that  generous  offer  to  help 
others  to  serve  God  better  received  the  hundred¬ 
fold  reward  at  once.  Many  years  afterwards, 
being  then  a  nun,  she  wrote  thus  at  the  com¬ 
mandment  of  her  confessor  :  *  The  instant  I  made 
the  offer  of  a  thousand  ducats  for  the  foundation 
of  a  monastery,  I  had  a  vision  of  our  Lord  bound 
to  the  pillar — a  most  piteous  and  distressing 
sight.  He  thanked  me  for  that  alms  and  for  my 
goodwill  towards  the  foundation,  as  it  was  the 
first,  and  told  me  how  greatly  it  would  be  to  His 
honour.  That  vision  was  to  me  an  exceeding  joy, 
and  I  was  so  moved  by  it,  that  I  made  up  my 
mind  there  and  then  to  take  the  habit  myself ;  and 
did  so  within  six  months  after  the  foundation  of 
St.  Joseph.’* 

St.  Teresa’s  heart  wras  filled  with  gladness 
when  she  heard  her  niece  make  the  offer ;  so  she 
began  to  commend  the  matter  to  our  Lord,  and  to 
take  counsel  of  holy  people.  The  issue  was  the 
foundation  in  1562,  about  two  years  later,  of  the 
first  monastery  of  the  Barefooted  Nuns  of  Carmel 
in  the  house  of  St.  Joseph,  in  the  city  and  diocese 
of  Avila,  in  the  kingdom  of  Old  Castille,  and 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop,  Don  Alvaro 
de  Mendoza. 

When  the  first  house  of  the  reform  wras 
founded,  St.  Teresa  saw  that  only  half  of  her 
T'  Reforma  de  los  Descalqos,  lib.  i.  e.  35,  §  7 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


7 


work  was  done.  It  was  not  enough  to  have  the 
primitive  rule  observed  by  nuns,  friars  also  must 
be  found  to  observe  it,  for  the  better  direction  of 
those  nuns.  The  need  of  friars  had  been  felt  from 
the  very  beginning ;  for  when  St.  Peter  of  Alcan¬ 
tara,  told  his  penitent  Isabel  de  Ortega — after¬ 
wards  Isabel  of  St.  Dominic — that  she  was  called 
to  the  new  Carmel  of  St.  Teresa,  she  replied  that 
she  would  not  belong  to  the  new  foundation,  be¬ 
cause  there  were  no  friars  observing  the  same  rule 
from  whom  she  could  receive  such  help  as  she 
might  require  in  the  spirit  of  her  vocation.  Her 
confessor  bade  her  be  at  ease,  the  friars  would  be 
found,  and  the  reform  about  to  be  begun  by  St. 
Teresa  would  not  be  confined  to  nuns.  Some  five 
years  afterwards,  Sister  Isabel  made  her  profes¬ 
sion  in  St.  Joseph’s,  but  the  friars  of  the  reform 
had  not  yet  come.  The  Father-General  of  the  order 
came  to  Spain  in  1566,  and  the  next  year  visited 
St.  Teresa  in  her  new  monastery ;  the  house  was 
subject  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  and  its 
foundress  had  been  withdrawn,  but  without  her 
own  knowledge  and  consent,  from  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  General,  to  the  great  grief  of  them  both. 
The  General  was  a  saintly  man,  and  did  not  wish 
to  lose  St.  Teresa,  so  he  readmitted  her  into  the 
order ;  he  allowed  her,  however,  to  remain  in  the 
house  of  St.  Joseph,  and  to  found  more  monasteries 
of  nuns  in  which  the  primitive  rule  should  be 
kept  in  all  its  austerity. 

That  was  not  what  she  wanted ;  she  wished 


8 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


to  see  friars  living  under  the  same  rule.  The 
General  thought  he  could  not  help  her,  because 
of  the  opposition  in  the  province ;  the  friars  were 
wedded  to  their  customs,  and  disliked  change. 
Her  friends  went  to  the  General  on  her  behalf, 
hut  they  could  not  prevail ;  at  last  she  wrote  to 
him  herself  imploring  him  to  give  his  consent. 
He  was  moved  by  her  entreaties,  and  gave  her 
authority  to  found  two  monasteries  of  friars,  hut 
within  the  province  of  Castille  only. 

It  is  believed  that  more  than  one  attempt  had 
been  made  before  to  restore  the  observance  of  the 
primitive  rule;  be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  certain 
that  at  this  time  there  was  not  a  monastery  be¬ 
longing  to  the  order  which  was  not  under  the 
mitigated  rule  sanctioned  by  Eugenius  IV.  The 
decree  made  at  the  instance  of  Clement  VII.,  in 
1524,  for  the  establishment  of  one  house  in  each 
province  wherein  the  primitive  rule  should  be 
kept,  was  never  executed.*  But  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed,  however,  that  the  order  was  there¬ 
fore  corrupt,  or  that  its  members  were  not  edifying 
and  devout  men ;  the  friars  kept  their  rule,  and  it 
was  very  natural  that  their  strict  observance  of  a 
rule,  though  less  severe  than  the  one  laid  aside, 
should  seem  to  them  a  good  reason  for  persever¬ 
ing  under  the  discipline  which  was  in  force  when 
they  were  admitted  to  make  their  religious  pro¬ 
fession  in  Carmel. 

The  new  foundations  sanctioned  by  the  General 
°  Reforma  cle  los  Descalgos,  i.  p.  107. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


9 


were  to  be  known  as  monasteries  of  Contemplative 
Carmelites,  living  according  to  the  old  constitu¬ 
tions  of  the  order  under  the  obedience  of  the 
General.  'Though  the  friars  were  to  spend  their 
time  chiefly  in  saying  Mass,  in  singing  the  divine 
office,  and  in  mental  prayer,  they  were,  neverthe¬ 
less,  to  serve  their  neighbours  in  their  necessities 
whenever  the  occasion  for  doing  so  offered  itself 
to  them.  Their  wish  was  to  advance  onwards 
themselves  in  the  way  of  perfection  as  Carmelites 
by  the  observance  of  the  primitive  rule,  renouncing 
the  mitigations  vhich,  in  consideration  of  human 
weakness,  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs  had  allowed. 

But  St.  Teresa,  though  greatly  rejoicing  in 
the  goodwill  of  the  General,  wras  very  far,  so 
it  seemed  to  her,  from  even  a  beginning  of  her 
work.  She  did  not  know  of  one  man  in  the  whole 
world  who  would  accept  the  primitive  rule.  The 
friars  of  her  order  were  very  few  in  the  province, 
and  among  them  she  saw  no  signs  of  better  things, 
yet  she  did  not  give  up  her  plan,  and  was  con¬ 
fident  that  our  Lord  would  come  to  her  help  in 
due  time. 

Her  first  monastery  of  nuns  was  founded  in 
15G2,  and  now  in  1567 — at  the  very  time  she 
received  the  General’s  permission  to  found. the  two 
houses —  she  was  in  Medina  del  Campo,  making 
the  second  foundation  of  her  reform.  She  was 
there  from  the  vigil  of  the  Assumption  to  the  end 
of  October,  busy  with  her  own  immediate  work  in 
her  own  monastery,  but  not  forgetting  that  which 


10 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


was  also  hers,  and  which  seemed  so  hopeless. 

‘  While  staying  there,’  she  wrote  in  her  Founda¬ 
tions  *  ‘  I  was  always  thinking  of  monasteries  of 
friars ;  hnt  as  I  had  not  one  friar  to  begin  with,  I 
did  not  know  what  to  do.’  In  her  straits  she  re¬ 
solved  to  speak  to  Fra  Antonio  de  Heredia,  the 
Prior  of  the  Carmelites  in  Medina,  in  the  house 
of  St.  Anne,  founded  a  few  years  before  —  in 
1560. 

Fra  Antonio  de  Heredia  had  not  been  long  in 
Medina — he  had  been  made  prior  in  the  chapter 
held  this  year  in  Avila — but  St.  Teresa  knew  him 
when  he  was  prior  of  the  Carmelites  in  Avila. 
She  had  made  known  to  him  her  wishes  and 
desires  about  houses  of  friars  under  the  primi¬ 
tive  rule,  even  before  the  General  of  the  Order  had 
come  to  Spain.  When  she  spoke  to  him  now  on 
the  same  subject,  her  plans  were  more  definite, 
and  she  had  leave  to  do  what  she  could  formerly 
only  wish  for.  Fra  Ant.onio  at  once  promised  to 
make  a  beginning  himself.  St.  Teresa  thought 
he  was  jesting  and  told  him  so,  but  the  prior  was 
in  earnest,  and  told  her  that  God  was  calling  him 
to  a  stricter  life,  and  that  he  had  intended  to  leave 
the  order  and  become  a  Carthusian. 

Fra  Antonio  was  horn  in  the  year  1510,  five 
years  before  St.  Teresa,  in  Eequena  of  New  Cas- 
tille,  and  his  mother  was  of  the  family  of  St. 
Vincent  Ferrer.  He  became  a  friar  when  only  ten 
years  of  age,  and  in  his  twenty-third  year  was  or- 

*  Ch.  iii.  §  15. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


11 


dained  priest.  A  true  friar,  simple  and  obedient, 
but  of  a  delicate  constitution,  unused  to  austerities; 
so  the  saint  not  unreasonably  had  some  doubts 
about  his  litness.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  a 
man  of  great  weight  in  his  order,  and  respected  by 
seculars  for  his  noble  birth,  his  great  prudence,  and 
long  experience. 

St.  Teresa,  nevertheless,  did  not  think  him 
fitted  for  the  work ;  she  required  greater  gifts  than 
she  was  able  to  trace  in  Fra  Antonio,  and  retained 
her  doubts.  His  goodwill,  however,  pleased  her. 
She  would  not  refuse  him,  and  asked  him  to  wait 
for  a  year ;  meanwhile  he  was  to  live  in  his  mon¬ 
astery,  as  far  as  it  should  be  possible  for  him,  in 
the  practice  of  those  observances  which  were  de¬ 
manded  by  the  primitive  rule.  Fra  Antonio  ac¬ 
cepted  the  conditions  and  the  counsel,  gave  him¬ 
self  up  to  a  more  severe  life,  and  endured  much 
contradiction  from  his  brethren,  for  they  preferred 
the  customs  of  the  mitigation. 

Soon  alter  this,  and  before  she  had  left  Medina 
del  Campo,  Fra  Pedro  Orozco,  a  grave  and  learned 
friar,  one  of  those  whom  St.  Teresa  always  saw 
with  pleasure,  called  upon  her,  and  in  the  course 
of  the  conversation  told  her  of  a  young  friar  who 
had  just  been  made  a  priest,  but  who  wished  for 
a  more  recollected  life  than  that  of  the  order.  The 
account  of  his  recollection,  his  humility,  his  devo¬ 
tion,  and  his  gravity  beyond  his  years,  struck  St. 
Teresa;  so  she  begged  him  to  send  that  friar  to  her. 
She  saw  that  this  was  the  man  whom  God  had 


12 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


raised  up  to  be  tire  foundation  of  her  reform  and 
the  model  of  the  new  Carmel.  Fra  Pedro  pro¬ 
mised  to  send  him,  and  St.  Teresa  betook  herself 
to  her  prayers.  She  spent  that  night  in  earnest 
supplications  unto  our  Lord  to  send  her  the  young 
friar  for  the  work  that  He  had  given  her  to  do.  It 
was  the  prayer  of  Rachel,  ‘  Children,  or  I  die.’ 

Fra  Pedro  had  some  difficulty  in  persuading 
the  friar  to  visit  St.  Teresa,  but  he  prevailed  in  the* 
end,  and  the  next  day  the  visit  was  unwillingly 
made.  Then  St.  Teresa  saw  for  the  first  time  the 
great  saint  and  doctor  of  Carmel,  the  poor  friar, 
John  of  the  Cross. 


CHAPTEB  II. 

Family  of  tlie  Saint — Francis  do  Yepes — Poverty — Don 
Alonso  Alvarez— Juan  de  Yepes  at  school — his  long- 
lng  lor  a  religious  life— enters  the  monastery  of  the 
Carmelites  — profession  — is  sent  to  Salamanca —  or¬ 
dained  priest— returns  to  Medina— intends  to  become 
a  Carthusian. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  was  born  in  the  year  1542, 
in  Jlontiveros,  once  a  flourishing  city,  but  then 
fallen  into  decay,  in  Old  Castille,  within  the  dio¬ 
cese  of  Avila,  the  birthplace  of  St.  Teresa.  His 
father,  Gonzalo  de  Yepes,  of  an  ancient  and  hon¬ 
ourable  family,  and  his  mother,  Catherine  Alvarez, 
a  poor  orphan,  were  both  natives  of  Toledo.  Cathe¬ 
rine  had  been  brought  up  by  a  devout  widow,  also 
horn  Toledo,  who  had  come  to  Hontiveros,  where 
she  gave  herself  up  to  good  works.  She  watched 
carefully  and  tenderly  over  the  friendless  orphan, 
whom  she  nurtured  in  the  fear  of  God  and  in  the 
piactice  of  true  devotion.  Ther  child  grew  up  ac¬ 
cording  to  her  education,  and  to  her  natural  beauty, 
which  was  very  -great,  God  was  pleased  to  add 
the  more  winning  beauty  of  modesty  and  grace. 

Don  Gonzalo  had  been  brought  up  by  an  uncle, 


11  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

a  merchant  in  Toledo,  who  sent  him  from  time  to 
time,  on  the  business  of  the  house,  to  Medina  del 
Campo,  where  traders  assembled  from  all  parts  of 
Europe.  On  his  way  to  Medina,  Don  Gonzalo 
was  in  the  habit  of  lodging  in  Hontiveros,  in  the 
house  of  the  widow  from  Toledo— with  whom,  per¬ 
haps,  he  was  already  acquainted — w7ho  had  taken 
under  her  motherly  charge  the  friendless  orphan, 
Catherine  Alvarez. 

The  nephew  of  the  wealthy  merchant,  without 
consulting  his  family,  or  even  speaking  to  any  of 
his  kindred,  made  Catherine  Alvarez  his  wife. 
Thereupon  his  relatives,  indignant,  disowned  him, 
and  his  uncle  abandoned  him  to  the  poverty  he 
had  courted— for  they  regarded  the  marriage  as 
unseemly  ;  and  from  that  clay  forth  Don  Gonzalo 
was  a  stranger  to  his  brethren  and  an  outcast,  for 
he  had  brought  disgrace  into  an  honourable  house. 

Don  Gonzalo  wras  now  as  poor  as  his  wife,  both 
being  utterly  destitute,  but  the  keener  pangs  of 
poverty  were  not  felt  so  long  as  the  widow  lived. 
Don  Gonzalo,  on  his  part,  made  efforts  to  gain 
his  bread  by  silk-weaving,  learning  the  art  from 
his  wife,  but  his  gains  were  scanty,  and  poverty 
came  in  as  an  armed  man  that  could  not  be  kept 
at  bay,  and  his  days  henceforward  were  days  of 
penury  and  toil,  unrelieved  by  a  single  gleam  of 
worldly  prosperity.  Three  children  wrere  born  to 
him,  Francis,  Lewis,  and  John;  the  second  died 
in  his  infancy,  but  the  others  grew  up  to  shed  a 
glory  on  the  family  of  the  De  Yepes  that  disowned 


15 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

their  father,  which  no  other  member  of  it  had 
done. 

Francis,  the  eldest,  was  horn  in  1530,  and 
John,  the  youngest,  in  1542.  When  the  charit¬ 
able  widow  died,  the  succour  they  had  received  in 
their  poverty  ceased,  and  at  last  Don  Gonzalo  fell 
ill.  .  He  lingered  on  for  two  years  and  then  died, 
having  led  a  good  and  pious  life,  and  borne  his 
tiiais  in  humility  and  patience,  conforming  him¬ 
self  to  the  will  of  God,  leaving  to  his  children  the 
sole  inheritance  of  an  unsullied  name.  The  widow 
was  destitute  and  had  three  children  to  maintain. 
In  her  great  straits  she  went,  by  the  advice  of  her 
neighbours,  to  implore  help  from  her  husband’s 
family  ;  perhaps  the  brothers  still  living,  they 
said,  would  forgive  the  dead,  and  be  generous  to 
her  and  to  her  helpless  children.  She  hoped  it 
might  be  so,  and  travelled  amidst  great  hardships 
and  difficulties  to  Torrijos,  where  a  brother  of  Don 
Gonzalo  was  staying  at  the  time.  He  was  an  arch- 
'deacon,  a  member  of  the  great  chapter  of  Toledo, 
and  probably  not  poor.  She  spoke  to  him  of  her 
own  poverty,  and  begged  him  to  take  one  of  his 
nephews  into  his  house.  The  archdeacon  could 
not  help  her ;  the  children  wrere  too  young ;  and 

with  that  excuse  the  poor  widow  had  to  go  her  wray 
sorrowing. 

In  gieat  distress  of  mind  and  body,  she  went 
now  to  Galves,  about  twenty  miles  from  Toledo, 
where  another  brother  was  living.  That  brother 
wras  a  physician  and  a  charitable  man,  most  ready 


16 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

at  all  times  to  help  all  around  him.  He  received 
with  the  utmost  kindness  the  widow  of  his  brother, 
and  undertook  the  charge  of  Francis,  the  eldest 
boy,  promising  to  educate  him  and  finally  to  make 
him  his  heir;  he  had  no  children  himself.  He 
had  made  a  promise,  however,  which  he  could  not 
keep  ;  but  the  poor  widow  did  not  know7  it,  and  left 
her  boy  in  his  house.  The  physician  was  neces-  , 
sariiy  much  from  home,  and  his  wife  was  not,  so  it 
appeared,  a  woman  to  be  trusted  with  the  children 
of  others.  She  kept  the  boy  at  home  instead  of 
sending  him  to  school,  made  him  her  servant  in 
many  ways,  and  treated  him  with  great  unkind¬ 
ness.  Not  only  w7as  he  not  sent  to  school,  but  his 
education  was  neglected,  and  he  had  to  bear  not 
with  ill-treatment  only,  but  with  scanty  food  and 
scanty  raiment.  His  mother  had  returned  to  Hon- 
tiveros,  where  she  laboured  to  earn  bread  for  her¬ 
self  and  the  two  children,  the  youngest,  John, 
still  an  infant.  For  a' whole  year  she  knew  nothing 
of  her  eldest  son,  Francis,  and,  being  uneasy  about 
him,  resolved  at  last  to  make  another  journey  to 
Halves,  that  she  might  see  her  child  with  her  own 
eyes.  The  poor  woman  knew7  nothing  of  the  hard¬ 
ships  he  had  to  bear ;  they  wrere  certainly  not 
lighter  than  the  poverty  of  his  mother’s  house,  and 
never  relieved  by  the  sunshine  of^the  mother’s 
love.  The  boy  told  her,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  of 
the  treatment  he  received ;  perhaps  he  could  not 
have  hidden  it  from  her;  and  she  made  up  her 
mind  to  take  him  home,  though  the  uncle,  who, 


17 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 

until  that  day,  knew  nothing  of  it,  promised  to 
w  ateh  over  him  for  the  future  if  his  mother  would 
let  him  remain.  Catherine  Alvarez  would  not 
leave  her  child  there  to  suffer  out  of  her  sight ;  her 
own  poverty  was  for  her  a  lighter  burden  to  carry 
than  the  ili-treatment  of  the  unfeeling  aunt.  The 
mother  and  the  child  returned  to  Hontiveros, 
perhaps  receiving  alms  on  the  way ;  and  then,  like 
Anna,  the  mother  of  Tobias,  Catherine  Alvarez 
went  ‘  daily  to  her  weaving  work,  and  brought  home 
what  she  could  get  for  their  living  by  the  labour  of 
her  hands.* 

Notwithstanding  her  poverty  she  sent  the  chil¬ 
dren  to  school ;  but  as  the  progress  of  Francis  in 
human  learning  was  not  great,  she  made  him  a 
weaver,  as  his  father  had  been,  giving  him  thereby 
tile  means  of  earning  his  bread.  Francis  never 
changed  his  occupation ;  it  was  to  him  the  work 
foi  which  he  was  fitted  j  and  he  lived  all  his  days 
contentedly  in  his  lowly  condition,  poor  and  some¬ 
times  even  in  want.  From  Hontiveros,  Catherine 
removed  with  her  children  to  Arevalo,  where  Francis 
married  Anne  Izquierda,  and  then  soon  after,  in 
1551,  the  poor  household  removed  to  Medina  del 
Campo ;  the  second  son,  Lewis,  being  dead,  God 
having  taken  him  to  Himself  in  the  bloom  of  his 
innocence  and  his  youth. 

Francis  was  hardly  two-ancf- twenty  years  old 
when  he  came  to  Medina,  but  he  was  an  old  man 
in  graca  and  goodness,  given  to  mortification  and 
to  prayer.  Though  he  had  made  no  progress  what- 


18 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 


ever  in  human  learning,  and  perhaps  never  knew 
how  to  read,  yet  God  had  given  him  a  learning 
which  no  human  skill  can  compass.  In  Arevalo 
he  had  begun  a  life  of  solid  devotion,  under  the 
direction  of  a  holy  priest,  who  made  him  confess 
and  communicate  once  a  week.  In  those  days 
that  was  not  usual,  for  even  St.  Teresa,  in  a  con¬ 
vent,  was  recommended  to  communicate  only  once 
in  a  fortnight.*  He  continued  that  practice  for 
many  years,  until  another  confessor  bade  him 
receive  our  .  Lord  more  frequently.  It  was  his 
custom  from  that  time  forth  all  his  life,  in 
summer,  to  go,  like  Isaac,  to  the  fields  at  night¬ 
fall  to  make  his  prayer  in  some  retired  spot, 
where  he  would  make  himself  a  place  like  a  tomb, 
and  then  lie  down  with  his  face  heavenwards, 
and  his  arms  stretched  out  as  if  he  wrere  on  the 
cross.  The  time  he  spent  in  prayer  varied,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  communications  which  God  made 
to  him,  and  not  according  to  any  rule  which  he 
had  laid  down  for  himself.  In  winter  he  retired 
into  some  church  at  nightfall,  and,  when  unwell 
or  unable  to  go  out,  he  withdrew  into  some  lonely 
place  in  his  own  house,  never  dispensing  himself, 
but  praying  always  without  ceasing.  This  was 
his  habit  all  his  life,  and  for  this  God  visited  him 
in  visions,  revelations,  trances,  and  divine  locu¬ 
tions,  but  never  in  the  wealth  of  this  world.  He 
was  nurtured  in  poverty  and  humility,  and  his 
old  age  was  like  his  manhood  and  his  youth.  He 

*  Life,  c.  \ii.  §  27. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOIIN  OF  THE  CEOSS.  19 

had  eight  children,  but  all  of  them  died  in  their 
infancy  but  one,  who  became  a  Cistercian  nun  in 
the  Monastery  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  Olmedo. 
Francis  de  Yepes  outlived  his  younger  brother, 
and  died  at  midnight  on  Friday,  the  Feast  of  St. 
Andrew,  1607  ;  and  then  the  whole  city  of  Medina 
del  Campo  was  moved,  for  he  had  been  regarded 
as  a  saint  who  had  wrought  miracles,  and  had  the 
gift  of  prophecy.  The  canons  of  the  church — 
lour  religious  orders — came  to  his  poor  house, 
to  bring  him,  wTho  had  been  one  of  the  poorest 
men  in  the  city,  to  the  church  of  St.  Anne.  He 
was  borne  by  the  friars  of  Carmel  and  the  canons, 
the  latter  doing  for  the  poor  weaver  what  they 
would  not  have  done  for  the  greatest  personage  in 
all  Spain. 

Catherine  Alvarez,  living  in  the  house  of  her 
eldest  son,  had  in  Medina  but  one  child  to  nur¬ 
ture,  her  youngest-born,  John.  She  brought  him 
up  as  she  brought  up  his  elder  brother,  tenderly 
in  the  fear  of  God,  and  he,  like  his  brother,  made 
the  same  return  to  her  for  her  motherly  care.  The 
child  was  wrise  above  his  years,  gentle  and  recol¬ 
lected,  obedient  to  his  mother,  and  winning  in  his 
ways.  Signs  of  the  sanctity  afterwards  to  be  at¬ 
tained  to  and  revealed  unto  men  were  not  wanting 
even  at  this  time. 

One  day  the  boy  was  playing  with  other 
children  close  by  a  pool,  and  fell  in.  The  water 
was  deep  and  muddy,  and  it  was  hardly  possible 
for  a  child  such  as  he  was  to  escape  with  his  life 


20 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


The  children  who  saw  him  fall  conlcl  do  nothing 
hut  cry  for  the  help  which  they  could  not  give. 
He  sank  beneath  the  waters,  and  for  an  instant 
was  out  of  sight;  but  he  rose  quickly  to  the 
surface,  and  never  sank  again.  He  showed  no 
signs  of  fear  ;  nor  did  he  cry  for  help.  A  lady  of 
wondrous  beauty  held  out  her  hand  to  him ;  he 
would  not  take  it,  because  his  own  was  not  clean. . 
At  last  a  man  came  by  who,  holding  out  a  rod, 
drew  the  child  therewith  safe  to  the  bank,  and 
went  his  way,  none  of  the  children  knowing  wiio 
he  was. 

On  another  occasion,  about  twTo  years  after¬ 
wards,  as  he,  with  his  mother  and  his  elder  bro¬ 
ther,  w’ere  about  to  enter  Medina  del  Campo,  a 
wild  beast  came  forth  to  attack  him,  whereupon 
he,  being  barely. seven  years  old,  made  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  and  wTas  saved.  He  showed  no  signs 
of  fear,  so  great  w7as  his  trust  in  God. 

In  Medina  del  Campo  he  attended  the  school 
for  the  children  of  the  poor.  The  boy  was  at¬ 
tentive,  and  above  all  attentive  to  the  religious 
exercises  practised  therein.  At  the  same  time  he 
used  to  go  early  in  the  morning  to  the  Monastery 
of  St.  Mary  Magdalene  of  the  Angustinian  nuns, 
and  there  serve  Mass  as  often  as  he  could,  which 
he  did  with  such  recollection  and  devotion  as  to 
attract  the  notice  of  those  who  wrere  present,  and 
move  them  to  greater  earnestness  in  the  service 
of  God.  When  he  wras  thirteen  years  of  age  his 
mother  had  him  apprenticed,  but  the  boy  who 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


21 


was  so  quick  and  intelligent  at  school  was  too 
dull  to  learn  a  trade  ;  he  was  tried  in  many  ways, 
but  he  could  not  be  taught,  nor  had  he  the 
power  of  learning  anything  whatever.  It  was 
time  wasted,  for  God  had  other  work  for  him. 

The  great  Hospital  of  the  Conception  in  Me¬ 
dina  del  Campo  was  at  this  time  administered  by 
a  gentleman  from  Toledo,  Don  Alonso  Alvarez, 

•  who,  weary  of  the  world  and  without  a  vocation  to 
the  priesthood,  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of 
the  poor  and  the  sick,  by  taking  on  himself  the 
charge  of  the  hospital  of  Medina.  Having  heard 
cf  Juan  de  Yepes,  and  his  hopeless  struggles  to 
earn  bread  for  himself  and  his  mother,  he  went 
to  Catherine  Alvarez,  and  offered  to  take  the  boy 
into  his  service  in  the  hospital,  promising  at  the 
same  time  to  allow  him  to  attend  school.  The 
offer  wTas  gladly  accepted  both  by  mother  and  son, 
and  Juan  de  Yepes  became  the  servant  of  the  poor 
in  the  public  hospital  of  the  town. 

Very  soon  after  he  had  begun  to  serve  the 
poor,  being  in  the  courtyard  of  the  hospital,  he 
tell  into  the  well,  which  wTas  uncovered.  The 
people  who  saw  him  cried  aloud,  thinking  it  was 
impossible  to  save  him,  for  the  well  wTas  deep  and 
the  water  abundant.  The  people  in  the  neigh¬ 
bourhood  heard  the  noise,  and  rushed  in.  On 
looking  into  the  well  they  saw  the  boy  on  the 
surface  of  the  water,  calm  and  unhurt.  Having 
drawn  him  up  by  a  rope,  they  asked  him  how  it 
all  happened,  upon  which  he,  with  great  simplicity, 


22 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


told  them  that  a  lady  of  great  beauty  had  received 
him  in  her  arms  as  he  was  falling,  and  sustained 
him  till  they  let  down  the  rope  by  which  he  was 
rescued.  The  people  wondered,  and  regarded  the 
boy  as  one  whom  God  was  preserving  for  great 
deeds. 

Poor  himself,  horn  and  nurtured  in  ‘poverty, 
and  knowing  nothing  but  poverty- — poverty  was. 
the  high  estate  to  which  God  had  called  him — he 
waited  humbly  on  the  poor  and  the  sick,  tending 
them  carefully,  and  showing  no  signs  of  impa¬ 
tience  or  disgust.  The  boy  was  wise  above  his 
years,  and  saw  in  the  poor  whom  he  served  the 
sacred  person  of  our  most  Blessed  Lord. 

Don  Alonso,  the  administrator  of  the  hospital, 
kept  his  promise  faithfully,  for  he  sent  him  to 
school,  where  he  could  continue  to  learn  what  he 
had  begun,  but  had  not  been  able  to  do  so  because 
of  the  poverty  of  his  mother.  In  the  year  1551, 
the  year  Catherine  Alvarez  came  to  Medina,  the 
Society  of  Jesus  had  opened  a  great  school — it 
was  the  first  they  established  in  Spain — and  to 
this  school,  by  the  kindness  of  Don  Alonso,  Juan 
de  Yepes  was  sent  daily  from  the  Hospital  of  the 
Conception. 

The  college  of  Ihe  Society  was  not  a  school  of 
idle  men ;  the  teachers  were  in  earnest,  and  breathed 
that  earnestness  into  the  hearts  of  those  who  came 
to  them  for  the  learning  which  they  could  furnish. 
Juan  was  neither  idle  nor  dull,  and  made  great 
progress  in  the  school,  which  he  frequented  for 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


28 


about  seven  years.  It  is  recorded  of  him  that  he 
was  very  careful  in  the  study  of  all  those  questions 
which  are  raised  about  the  soul  and  its  powers, 
and  that  the  fruit  of  his  labours  may  be  traced  in 
his  mystical  theology,  where  without  effort,  as  it 
seems,  the  very  gravest  questions  are  most  clearly 
discussed  and  most  wonderfully  solved. 

It  seems  to  be  admitted  that  Juan  de  Yepes, 
young  as  he  was,  knew  the  worth  of  the  learning 
which  the  fathers  taught  him,  discerning  from  the 
first  the  use  to  what  it  might  be  put.  The  lec¬ 
tures  of  the  professors  on  the  soul  and  its  powers 
seemed  to  him  the  road  to  a  great  goal,  which  he 
hoped  to  reach.  They  showed  him  how  to  pray, 
and  how  to  describe  the  different  states  of  prayer. 
His  life  at  this  time  was  more  a  life  of  prayer  than 
a  life  of  study,  and  he  made  everything  subserve 
his  one  purpose — the  doing  in  the  best  way  the 
work  of  God  which  he  had  to  do. 

In  the  hospital  he  wras  the  humble  and  labori¬ 
ous  servant  of  the  poor  all  the  time ;  no  duty  was 
neglected,  no  service  carelessly  rendered.  When 
his  work  in  the  house  was  done,  he  then,  and  not 
before,  betook  himself  to  prayer  and  his  books. 
Besides,  he  led  a  most  penitential  life ;  for  when  he 
was  only  nine  years  of  age  his  mother  discovered 
that  he  had  begun  to  treat  his  body  with  severity, 
but  she  was  too  wise  a  woman  to  meddle  with  the 
child’s  devotion.  He  would  sleep  on  the  floor  of 
his  poor  room  with  a  bundle  of  fagots  for  a  pil¬ 
low.  In  the  hospital  he  redoubled  his  austerities, 


24 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


and  w as  a  cruel  master  to  tlie  fragile  body  which 

O  ts 

God  bad  given  to  so  heroic  a  soul,  robbing  it  of 
sleep  and  the  necessary  rest. 

He  had  been  twice  saved  from  the  peril  of 
death  by  onr  Blessed  Lady,  and  to  her  he  was  ex¬ 
tremely  devout.  He  said  her  Bosary  daily  on  his 
knees  together  with  the  Little  Office,  and  confessed 
her  glory  and  her  greatness  on  all  possible  occa¬ 
sions,  knowing  in  his  earlier  years  that  he  could 
not  follow  our  Lord  without  honouring  His  Mother, 
whom  He  had  so  highly  honoured  Himself. 

Hon  Alonso  Alvarez  hoped  that  Juan  de 
Yepes  would  in  due  time  accept  a  benefice,  the 
patronage  of  which  was  in  his  hands,  and  receive 
holy  orders  ;  that  done,  he  hoped  to  prevail  upon 
him  to  become  the  chaplain  of  the  hospital,  and 
take  the  charge  and  government  of  it  into  his  own 
hands.  The  poor  mother  knew  of  the  good  in¬ 
tentions  of  Hon  Alonso,  and  she  might  well  be  for¬ 
given  if  she  entered  gladly  into  such  a  scheme. 
But  it  was  not  to  be ;  Juan  de  Yrepes  in  his  hu¬ 
mility  shrunk  back  from  the  priesthood,  and  the 
oilers  of  Hon  Alonso  w7ere  thankfully  and  resolutely 
declined. 

The  school  and  the  hospital  occupied  all  his 
time,  for  he  carefully  avoided  all  the  pastimes  in 
which  young  men  of  his  years  indulged.  If  he 
was  not  wanted  in  the  school  or  the  hospital,  he 
was  in  church  or  in  some  secret  place  in  prayer. 

When  he  had  reached  his  twentieth  year  he 
began  to  think  of  his  state,  and  of  the  way  in 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


25 


which  he  was  to  serve  God  for  the  rest  of  his  days. 
He  had  no  -wish  or  will  of  his  own;  all  he  desired 
was  to  serve  our  Lord,  hut  he  knew  not  how.  He 
redoubled  his  importunities  in  prayer  and  earnestly 
begged  for  light  and  guidance,  resigning  himself 
without  reserve  into  the  hands  of  God,  whose 
absolute  power  and  unquestionable  right  over  him 
he  never  thought  of  doubting.  One  day  when  he 
was  in  prayer  begging  for  light  and  commending 
his  future  life  to  our  Lord,  he  heard  a  voice  and 
he  also  heard  words — they  sounded  to  him  so 
strange  and  mysterious  that  he  was  afraid  to  re¬ 
veal  them  to  any  one.  The  words  were,  ‘  Thou 
art  to  serve  Me  in  an  order  the  ancient  perfection 
of  which  thou  shalt  help  to  bring  hack  again.’ 

He  understood  that  God  wished  him  to  become 
a  religious,  and  he  was  content,  but  he  could  not 
understand  that  he  was  to  do  so  great  a  work  as  to 
recover  again  the  former  greatness  of  any  order. 
He  shrunk  from  the  task,  and,  so  far  as  he  could, 
banished  the  thought  of  it  from  his  mind,  for  he 
looked  upon  it  as  a  snare  and  an  occasion  of  delu¬ 
sion  to  his  soul.  He  confessed  this  at  a  later  time 
to  the  saintly  nun,  the  venerable  Mother  Anne  of 
Jesus. 

Hitherto  he  had  not  thought  of  the  life  of  a 
religious  as  one  possible  for  himself,  but  from 
this  time  forth  the  desire  to  leave  the  world,  into 
which  he  had  really  never  entered,  grew  within 
him  and  became  strong.  The  more  he  prayed  the 
more  he  longed  to  be  a  religious,  but  he  was  not 


J 


26  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

drawn  towards  one  order  more  than  another;  all 
orders  were  equally  indifferent  to  him  and  equally 
desired.  In  this  uncertainty  he  went  one  day  to 
the  Monastery  of  St.  Anne.  The  friars  had  come 
to  the  city  in  the  year  1560,  when  Juan  was  eigh¬ 
teen  years  old,  and  the  sight  of  the  habit  made 
an  impression  upon  him  which  it  had  never  made 
before.  He  knew  now  that  his  vocation  vra's  to 
serve  God  in  Carmel,  and  was  glad  he  had  been 
poor  all  his  life— not  against  his  will,  it  is  true  ; 
but  his  poverty  w^as  the  poverty  of  his  family,  not 
his  own;  and  now  he  embraced  poverty  as  his 
bride'  and,  renouncing  even  the  possibility  of  pos¬ 
sessing  anything,  gave  himself  up  to  follow  our 
Lord  in  His  poverty,  and  resolved  to  become  a 
mendicant  friar. 

He  made  his  way  into  the  house,  and  begged  to 
be  received  into  the  order.  The  friars  were  well- 
pleased,  for  he  was  known  in  Medina ;  and  he 
received  the  habit  on  the  feast  of  St.  Mathias, 
February  24,  1563,  being  then  in  the  twenty-first 
year  of  his  age.  In  honour  of  the  Apostle,  he 
gave  up  his  own  name  of  Yepes,  and  was  hence¬ 
forth  known  in  the  order  as  Juan  de  San-Matias  so 
long  as  he  continued  to  profess  the  mitigated 
rule. 

In  the  novitiate  his  regularity  and  obedience, 
his  recollection,  his  fervour,  his  penances,  and  the 
austerities  permitted  him,  were  a  fountain  of  edifi¬ 
cation  to  all  in  the  house.  His  prudence  and 
humility  were  once  severely  tested,  and  he  did 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF' THE  CEOSS. 


27 


an  act  from  which  novices  might  well  shrink,  and 
which  novices  can  rarely,  if  ever,  perform  without 
some  imperfection,  if  not  sin.  Ho  was  one  day 
with  a  father  of  the  order  who  behaved  somewhat 
negligently  in  the  presence  of  seculars.  John  of 
St.  Mathias  was  the  only  religious  who  saw  the 
fault  committed,  which  is  not  said  to  have  been 
at  all  serious,  but  merely  an  unseemliness  in  one 
who  wore  the  habit  of  religion.  The  novice  re¬ 
minded  the  father  of  his  failure ;  but  he  did  so 
with  so  much  humility  and  discretion,  that  the 
father  not  only  did  not  seem  offended,  but  cor¬ 
rected  himself,  and  accepted  the  correction  with 

joy- 


In  the  following  year,  in  1564,  he  made  his 
profession  before  Fra  Angel  de  Salazar,  the  Pro¬ 
vincial  of  Castille.  His  generous  protector, 
Alonso  Alvarez,  was  present  at  the  ceremony. 
The  record  of  that  profession  was  preserved  in  the 
house  as  a  precious  memorial,  and  the  small  cell 
in  which  John  of  St.  Mathias  lived  was,  after  his 
death,  made  into  a  chapel,  though  the  monastery 
itself  never  adopted  the  reform  of  St.  Teresa.  But 
the  house  for  ever  after  retained  traces  of  the  pass¬ 
age  of  John  of  St.  Mathias  through  it,  in  the 
regular  observances  and  the  edifying  punctuality 
of  the  community  in  all  its  duties  both  within  and 
without. 

Having  now  made  his  profession,  he  began  to 
consider  anew  the  obligations  of  his  state.  While 
giving  continual  thanks  to  God  for  having  brought 

-a-** 

eW*TNUT 


28 


LIFE  OF  ST.  'JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


him  into  the  safe  sanctuary  of  the  order  of  our 
Lady  of  Carmel,  he  sought  for  light  to  direct 
his  ways  in  the  strictest  observance  of  the  rule. 
Nourishing  his  soul  by  prayer,  and  feeding  the 
fires  of  prayer  by  a  constant  reading  of  the 
Following  of  Christ ,  he  thought  nothing  easy 
that  the  world  required  of  him,  and  nothing  diffi¬ 
cult  to  which  God  called  him.  The  rule  he  read 
diligently,  that  he  might  be  filled  with  its  spirit, 
and  be  made  like  unto  the  saints  who  had  been 
formed  in  the  order  to  which  he  unworthily  had 
been  admitted.  When  he  read  the  rule  which 
the  blessed  Albert  of  Parma  had  given,  and  which 
Innocent  IV.  had  confirmed,  but  with  the  exact 
observance  of  which  Eugenius  IY.  had  dispensed, 
he  wished  he  might  be  allowed  to  keep  it,  so  far 
as  it  w7as  possible  for  him.  But  being  a  child  of 
obedience,  he  would  do  nothing  of  his  own  will ; 
he  had  given  up  that  to  his  superiors  in  the  order. 
Nevertheless,  he  could  represent  his  wishes  to 
them,  and  did  so ;  they  listened  to  him,  perhaps 
not  without  some  misgivings,  but  they  did  not 
resist  his  wish,  lest  they  should  put  out  a  flame 
which  our  Lord  had  kindled.  They  gave  him 
leave  to  observe  the  primitive  rule,  provided  that 
no  duty  of  the  community  should  be  neglecte'd, 
and  the  present  discipline  of  the  house  main¬ 
tained. 

* 

He  now  entered  on  a  life  of  penance  winch, 
because  of  the  conditions  under  winch  he  was 
living,  was  much  more  severe  than  the  rule  re- 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


29 


quired.  He  was  present  at  all  tlie  exercises  of 
the  community,  in  choir,  chapter,  and  refectory, 
avoiding  all  appearance  of  singularity,  and  in  all 
outward  semblance  differing  in  nothing  from  the 
other  friars  of  the  house.  Yet  he  was  fasting 
from  the  Feast  of  the  Cross  in  September  till 
Easter  in  the  following  year,  and  abstaining 
wholly  from  flesh-meat  throughout  the  year,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  primitive  rule.  But  as  no  pro¬ 
vision  was  made  for  him  in  the  house,  and  as 
he  had  to  attend,  and  did  attend,  in  the  refectory 
daily,  where  meat  was  served,  according  to  the 
dispensation  of  Eugenius  IV.,  it  was  hard  for 
him  to  disguise  his  own  mortification,  and  at  the 
same  time  find  food  enough  to  support  life.  He 
had  nothing  in  his  cell,  and  he  would  not  eat 
except  at  the  lawful  times.  He  kept  silence  also 
according  to  the  rule,  and  for  that  end  withdrew 
to  his  cell  the  moment  he  was  free  from  the 
duties  he  had  to  discharge  in  public.  He  laboured 
also  with  his  hands,  as  the  ancient  hermits  did, 
and  in  his  cell  he  would  make  crosses  and  disci¬ 
plines,  with  other  instruments  of  penance ;  but  his 
chief  work  was  prayer,  that  being  the  true  work  of 
a  friar  of  Carmel,  for  it  is  said  in  the  rule,  ‘  Let 
all  remain  in  their  cells,  or  near  them,  meditating 
night  and  day  on  the  law  of  our  Lord.’ 

His  superiors,  wisely  discerning  the  great  value 
of  Juan  of  St.  Mathias,  determined  to  send  him  to 
their  college  in  Salamanca,  that  by  the  help  of 
the  learning  to  be  there  acquired  he  might  be 


80 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


mado  a  labourer  in  our  Saviour’s  vineyard,  whom 
none  could  put  to  shame,  rightly  handling  the 
word  of  truth.  The  college  of  his  order  in  Sala¬ 
manca  was  then  known  as  the  college  of  St. 
Andrew  the  Apostle,  but  at  a  later  time  the 
name  was  changed,  and  the  college  of  the  Car¬ 
melites  became  the  college  of  St.  Teresa.  The 
school  of  theology  in  the  university  was  famous ; 
the  Dominicans  had  given  it  professors  of  great 
name.  Francis  a  Yittoria  died  in  1546,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  pupil,  Melchior  Cano,  who, 
resigning  his  chair  on  being  made  bishop  of  the 
Canaries,  made  way  for  the  celebrated  Dominic 
de  Soto,  who  had  been  at  the  Council  of  Trent, 
and  had  just  refused  the  see  of  Segovia.  Soto 
died  in  1560,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mantius  de 
Corpore  Christi,  who  sat  in  the  great  chair  of 
Theology  in  Salamanca,  when  Father  Juan  of 
St.  Mathias  was  sent  thither  from  Medina  del 
Carnpo.^ 

Fra  Juan  of  St.  Mathias  went  to  Salamanca  in 
the  year  1564.  He  was  there  most  diligent  in  his 
attendance  in  the  schools,  but  his  studies  never 
interfered  with  the  severity  oi  his  penitential 
habits.  Y/hat  he  had  begun  in  Medina  del 
Campo  with  the  sanction  of  his  superiors  was 
continued  in  Salamanca,  amid  the  unavoidable 
interruptions  o_  the  public  schools.  The  very 
cell  assigned  him  in  the  Carmelite  house  was  a 
prison  rather  than  a  room;  it  was  small,  dark, 

*  Banes,  in  2dam  2dae  qu.  1,  art.  1,  concl.  1. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


31 


and  wholly  unfurnished ;  it  is  true  it  held  a 
shallow  coffer  which  he  used  as  a  bed,  but 
which  was  more  like  a  coffin  than  anything  else. 
In  that  coffer,  without  any  covering  other  than  his 
habit,  and  a  block  of  wood  for  his  pillow,  Father 
Juan  took  his  rest  at  night,  such  as  it  was,  and 
such  as  he  allowed  himself  to  take.  All  the  light 
he  had  came  through  a  narrow  opening  in  the 
roof,  and  it  was  very  scanty.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  was  a  window  in  it  opening  into  the  church, 
through  which  he  could  see  the  tabernacle  on  the 
altar  in  which  our  Lord  was  dwelling.  That  was 
to  him  a  sight  more  satisfying  than  anything  the 
world  without  could  show  him.  That  cell  in  Sala¬ 
manca,  as  the  other  in  Medina,  was  at  a  later  time 
converted  into  a  chapel,  because  it  had  been  once 
tenanted  by  a  poor  friar  who  seems  never  to 
have,  been  the  owner  of  anything  on  the  face  of 
•  the  earth. 

He  mortified  his  body  with  extreme  severity. 
The  primitive  rule  is  austere  enough  even  for 
souls  athirst  for  penance,  but  Juan  of  St.  Mathias 
found  the  burden  too  light  for  his  shoulders.  He 
girt  his  loins  with  an  iron  chain  studded  with 
sharp  points,  and  over  his  body  he  wore  a  dress 
made  of  coarse  grass,  after  the  fashion  of  fisher¬ 
men’s  nets,  the  thick  knots  of  which  were  as  hard 
as  stones.  This  he  hid  under  the  habit  of  his 
order.  The  unceasing  distress  caused  hereby  he 
relieved  by  the  most  cruel  disciplines,  the  effects 
of  which  could  not  always  be  concealed  from  his 


32 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


companions  and  his  superiors.  And  it  was  a 
new  and  sharp  penance  to  him  when  his  secret 
mortifications  became  known  to  others. 

Though  he  was  allowed  to  keep  the  primitive 
i  ule,  he  never  failed  to  observe  the  minutest 
practice  in  force  in  the  house  where  he  was 
living.  He  did  not  dispense  himself,  nor  ex¬ 
pect  to  he  dispensed,  from  the  daily  order  of  the 
monastery,  nor  did  he  claim  any  exemption  on 
the  ground  that  he  kept  a  rule  which  was  more 
austere  than  that  under  which  his  brethren  were 
living.  Modest,  humble,  and  silent,  he  did  the 
woik  he  had  to  do,  as  if  he  were  not  already 
ovei burdened  with  another  work,  of  which  his 
companions  might  have  said  that  he  was  not 
bound  to  do  it.  Everything  wTas  in  order  with¬ 
in  :  regular  in  the  house,  punctual  in  the  choir 
and  in  the  schools,  no  duty  ever  interrupted 
another.  Nor  was  he  carried  away  by  his  love 
of  learning  from  the  more  important  work  of 
prayer;  he  made  the  lectures  he  heard  minister 
to  his  prayer,  and  in  prayer  he  found  light  from 
God,  which  enabled  him  to  profit  by  the  wisdom 
of  those  who  taught  him.  Always  cheerful  and 
recollected,  he  was  held  in  respect  even  by  the 
turbulent  youth  of  a  great  university,  and  by  his 
superiors  was  specially  beloved.  In  the  public 
disputations  he  spoke  modestly  and  to  the  point ; 
vhen  defeated  in  the  contest  he  acknowledged  his 
opponent’s  skill,  but  was  never  troubled  at  his 
own  discomfiture,  neither  was  he  elated  at  the 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


83 


close  of  a  disputation  in  wliicli  lie  had  been  suc¬ 
cessful. 

In  this  way  did  the  time  pass  from  his  arrival 
in  Salamanca,  in  1564,  till  near  the  middle  of  the 
year  1567.  He  was  then  commanded  by  his  su¬ 
periors  to  prepare  himself  for  the  order  of  the 
priesthood.  That  was  a  dignity  he  had  shrunk 
from  when  in  the  hospital  of  Medina  del  Campo, 
hut  it  was  not  in  his  power  now  to  do  what  he  did 
then ;  he  was  under  obedience ;  so,  bewailing  his 
great  unworthiness,  he  went  into  retreat,  and  was 
ordained  priest  in  Salamanca  in  the  year  1567. 

The  ordination  took  place  probably  in  May  of 
that  year,  but  his  biographers  are  silent ;  and  as 
soon  as  he  was  made  priest  his  superiors  sent  him 
back  to  Medina  del  Campo,  there  to  sing  his  first 
Mass ;  partly  because  it  was  in  the  house  of  St. 
Anne  he  had  taken  the  habit,  and  partly  to  give 
pleasure  to  his  mother,  who,  in  her  poverty,  had 
trained  him  up,  and  given  him  to  serve  our  Lord 
in  poverty  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

He  came  to  Medina  del  Campo,  and  began  to 
prepare  himself  anew  for  the  great  act  which  he 
was  there  to  do  for  the  first  time — to  offer  up  the 
sacrifice  of  the  new  law.  He  redoubled  his  au¬ 
sterities  and  prolonged  his  vigils,  giving  himself 
wholly  unto  prayer.  All  his  life,  even  hitherto, 
had  been  a  life  of  detachment  and  purity ;  and  now 
he  seems  to  have  felt  that  it  was  more  necessary 
than  ever  for  him  to  keep  close  unto  God,  lest  sin 
should  come  in  between  them  and  separate  him 

D 


34 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


from  the  only  love  of  his  souL  He  went  np  to 
the  altar  on  the  day  appointed  for  him,  and  made 
the  great  oblation;  then,  holding  in  his  hands 
God  who  made  him,  he  prayed  to  Him  with  all  his 
might  for  grace  to  preserve  him  in  pureness  of 
life,  and  never  to  stain  his  baptismal  robe.  The 
cry  of  faith  went  straight  to  the  heart  of  God ;  and 
Juan  of  St.  Mathias  heard  an  inward  voice,  which 
said,  ‘  Thy  prayer  is  granted.’ 

Great  graces  from  God  are  accompanied  with 
a  desire  to  retain  them.  Fra  Juan,  considering 
the  promise  made  him  while  saying  Mass  for  the 
first  time,  considered  also  how  he  was  to  do  what 
lay  in  his  power  to  reap  the  fruits  cf  it.  He  saw 
how  necessary  it  wras  for  him  now  to  withdraw 
farther  and  farther  from  the  commerce  of  men,  in 
order  to  he  led  into  the  wilderness  in  which  the 
Divine  communications  are  made.  He  had  made 
the  offering  of  his  whole  self,  and  had  nothing 
more  to  offer  now;  but  it  was  his  duty  still  to 
watch  with  Abraham,  and  drive  away  the  birds  of 
the  air,  lest  they  should  devour  and  defile  the  sa¬ 
crifice.  He  saw  no  other  wray  before  him  but  that 
of  leaving  the  order  of  Carmel,  and  entering  that  of 
the  Carthusians  ;  for  that  order  was  the  sole  order 
which  he,  a  mendicant,  could  enter. 

He  returned  to  Salamanca,  probably  to  finish 
his  course  in  the  university ;  and  later  in  the  year 
came  aw^ay  in  the  company  of  Fra  Pedro  de  Orozco, 
who  was  returning  to  Medina.  From  Medina  Fra 
Juan  intended  to  go  to  the  Carthusians  of  Segovia, 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


35 


to  hide  himself  from  the  sight  and  commerce  of  men, 
that  he  might  serve  God  without  distraction.  He 
remained  for  a  time  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Anne ; 
but  his  secret  was  probably  not  unknown,  for  he 
had  told  Fra  Pedro  of  his  resolution,  and  he  it  was 
who  helped  to  make  it  void,  by  communicating  to 
St.  Teresa  what  he  knew  of  the  fervent  spirit  hid¬ 
den  in  the  frail  body  of  Fra  Juan  of  St.  Mathias; 
and  of  the  earnest  longings  for  a  more  perfect  life 
than  was  that  he  was  then  living  among  the  Car¬ 
melites  of  the  mitigation. 


CHAPTER  III. 


St.  John  of  the  Cross  persuaded  by  St.  Teresa  to  become  a 
friar  of  her  reform — Duruelo — St.  John  of  the  Cross  in 
Valladolid — goes  to  Duruelo. 

Fra  Juan  of  St.  Mathias  was  five -and -twenty 
years  old  when,  at  the  urgent  request  of  Fra 
Pedro  de  Orozco,  he  went  to  see  St.  Teresa  in 
her  monastery  in  Medina.  St.  Teresa  herself  was 
in  her  fifty-third  year,  and  had  been,  more  than 
thirty- three  years  in  religion.  Fra  Juan  had  been 
about  four  years  in  the  order,  to  the  reform  of 
which  he  was  nov/  called  by  the  voice  of  the 
saint.  In  the  house  of  St.  Joseph,  in  Medina 
del  Campo,  the  two  saints  met  for  the  first  time, 
and  then  the  nun  told  the  friar  what  she  intended 
to  do,  and  the  friar  on  his  part  told  her  that  he 
had  for  some  time  wished  to  live  among  the  Car¬ 
thusians,  believing  himself  called  to  a  life  of  re¬ 
tirement  and  prayer.  But  as  the  conversation 
continued,  and  as  the  elder  saint  represented  to 
the  .younger  that  he  would  do  more  for  the  glory 
of  God  if  he  would  restore  the  primitive  rule  of 
his  order  than  if  he  left  it  for  another,  Fra  Juan, 
humble  and  self-doubting,  yielded  to  the  persua- 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


37 


sions  of  St.  Teresa,  and  consented  to  do  her  bid¬ 
ding,  provided  the  work  should  be  entered  upon 
without  delay.  St.  Teresa  was  now  content ;  she 
had  found  one  man  on  whom  she  could  depend ; 
for  though  she  had  already  accepted  the  Prior  of 
Medina,  Fra  Antonio  de  Heredia,  she  was  not 
wholly  satisfied  with  him.  She  did  not,  however, 
begin  the  reform  of  the  friars  at  once,  but  waited 
a  while  ;  partly  because  of  her  want  of  perfect  con¬ 
fidence  in  Fra  Antonio,  and  partly  because  she 
had  no  house  to  give  them,  nor  the  means  where¬ 
with  to  buy  one. 

For  all  this,  she  was  glad,  and  used  to  say 
that  she  had  begun  her  work,  for  she  had  found 
a  friar  and  a  half — Fra  Antonio  was  a  portly  per¬ 
sonage  of  dignified  presence,  but  Fra  Juan  was 
small  of  stature,  and  worn  already  by  austerities. 
There  was  nothing  in  his  outward  look  to  com¬ 
mand  the  respect  of  men  ;  but  St.  Teresa  knew 
his  worth,  and  was  wont  to  say  of  him  that  Father 
John  of  the  Cross  was  one  of  the  most  pure  and 
holy  souls  in  the  Church  of  God. 

Two  friars,  then,  were  found  willing  to  re¬ 
nounce  the  mitigated  observances  of  the  order, 
and  to  practise  the  austerities  of  the  primitive 
rule ;  but  there  was  no  house  to  lodge  them  in, 
nor  a  single  penny  wherewith  to  buy  one.  The 
two  friars  were,  like  St.  Teresa,  mendicants,  and 
had  no  possesions ;  so  they  remained  for  the  pre¬ 
sent  in  the  house  of  St.  Anne  in  Medina,  where 
they  met  with  many  crosses ;  but  St.  Teresa  was 


38 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


without  fear  about  one  of  them  at  least;  for  *  though 
he  was  living,’  she  said,  with  a  certain  malicious¬ 
ness,  4  among  the  fathers  of  the  mitigated  rule,  he 
always  led  a  perfect  and  religious  life.’* 

St.  Teresa  went  from  Medina,  about  the  end 
of  October  1567,  to  Madrid,  and  thence  to  the 
monastery  of  the  Venerable  Maria  of  Jesus  in 
Alcala  de  Henares,  where  she  remained  for  some 
time.  In  April  1568,  she  had  made  her  founda¬ 
tion  in  Malagon,  and  was  preparing  to  make 
another  in  Valladolid.  In  Malagon  she  saw  Fra 
Juan  again ;  and  one  day,  while  conversing  together, 
both  fell  into  a  trance,  and  -were  seen  by  Mother 
Isabel  of  the  Incarnation — Fra  Juan  in  the  par¬ 
lour  of  the  monastery,  and  St.  Teresa  on  the  other 
side  of  the  grating,  f  In  June,  St.  Teresa  returned 
to  Avila  to  make  the  last  arrangements  for  the 
monastery  to  be  founded  in  Valladolid;  and  while 
so  occupied,  Don  Eafael  Mejia  Velasquez,  to  whom 
she  had  never  spoken  before,  called  upon  her,  and 
offered  a  small  cottage  that  he  had  in  the  country 
in  Duruelo  for  the  monastery  which  he  had  heard 
she  wished  to  found.  She  accepted  the  offer  with 
great  gratitude,  and  on  the  recommendation  of 
Don  Eafael  went  to  see  the  place.  She  set  out 
on  her  journey  before  the  end  of  the  month,  early 
in  the  morning;  but  so  little  known  was  the  cottage 
of  Don  Eafael,  that  nobody  could  tell  her  where  to 
find  it.  She  missed  her  w^ay,  therefore,  and  though 

*  Foundations,  xiii.  §  1.  ^ 

f  Reforma  de  los  Dcscalcos,  i.  p.  242. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


89 


the  place  was  not  far  from  Avila,  it  was  nearly 
dark  before  she  reached  it.  But  the  state  of  the 
house  was  such  that  the  saint  and  her  companions 
could  not  venture  to  pass  the  night  in  it,  the  filth 
of  it  was  so  great.  It  was  also  harvest-time,  and 
the  use  to  which  it  was  then  put  did  not  make  it 
a  pleasant  place  to  rest  in.  It  had  a  porch,  a 
small  kitchen,  and  a  room  with  a  low  garret  over 
it. 

Sister  Antonia  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  was 
with  St.  Teresa,  regarded  the  foundation  of  a 
monastery  there  as  impossible.  ‘  No  man,’  she 
said,  ‘  how  ever  spiritual  he  may  be,  can  live  here.’ 
But  the  saint  persevered  in  her  purpose,  discern¬ 
ing  in  the  poverty  of  the  place  the  Bethlehem  of 
the  reform  of  Carmel.  She  was  won  by  its 
wretchedness. 

The  night  was  spent  in  the  neighbouring 
church.  The  next  day  St.  Teresa  reached  Medina 
del  Campo,  and  told  the  prior  of  the  Carmelites 
that  she  had  found  a  house.  Fra  Antonio  was 
not  alarmed,  but  courageously  took  up  his  cross; 
he  was  content  to  live  anywhere,  provided  he 
could  keep  the  primitive  rule.  Fra  Juan  of  St. 
Mathias  made  no  objection ;  to  him  the  poverty 
of  the  house  was  as  a  spell  that  bound  him,  and 
•he  was  of  one  mind  with  the  prior.  But  all  the 
difficulties  were  not  overcome.  The  General  of 
the  order  had  allowed  the  foundation  of  the  new 
monasteries  to  De  made,  on  the  condition  that  the 
then  provincial  and  the  former  provincial  gave 


40 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


their  consent :  there  were  good  reasons  for  fearing 
the  opposition  of  the  latter,  Fra  Angel  de  Salazar. 
He  had  already  had  some  trouble  with  St.  Teresa, 
and  probably  had  not  forgotten  it. 

St.  Teresa  went  on  to  Valladolid  to  make  the 
foundation  there,  and  took  with  her  Fra  Juan, 
that  he  might  see  the  way  in  which  the  rule  was 
kept.  There  the  nuns  had  to  live  for  some  time 
in  a  monastery  unenclosed,  because  of  the  work¬ 
men  in  the  house;  and  that  was  perhaps  a  gain 
for  him,  because  it  enabled  him  to  see  more  of  their 
ways.  While  he  was  thus,  in  a  manner,  a  novice 
for  the  second  time,  St.  Teresa  was  engaged  in 
obtaining  the  necessary  consent  of  the  provincial, 
Fra  Alonso  Gonzalez,  who  came  at  this  time  to 
Valladolid.  He  was  not  at  all  willing  to  accept 
the  new  monastery  under  his  jurisdiction ;  but  the 
Bishop  of  Avila  and  his  sister,  Doha  Maria  de 
Mendoza,  friends  of  St.  Teresa,  came  also  to  Valla¬ 
dolid,  and  helped  her  to  the  utmost  of  their  power. 
The  two  provincials  gave  way  at  last,  moved  not 
a  little  by  some  difficulties  of  their  own,  for  the 
removal  of  which  they  required  the  help  of  the 
bishop’s  sister.  Every  hindrance  was  now  over¬ 
come  ;  and  the  foundation  of  the  first  monastery 
of  the  barefooted  Carmelites  was  not  only  possi¬ 
ble,  but  legal,  according  to  the  constitutions  of  the 
order,  made  with  the  full  sanction  of  the  General, 
to  the  great  joy  of  those  who  wera about  to  begin 
the  work. 

St.  Teresa  and  her  nuns  with  their  own  hands 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  41 

made  the  habit  of  the  first  friar  of  the  reform. 
Fra  Juan  of  St.  Mathias.  With  that  habit,  but 
not  wearing  it,  and  with  the  means  of  saying 
Mass,  he  left  Valladolid  for  Duruelo. 

One  of  the  workmen  employed  in  repairing  the 
monastery  of  the  nuns  was  sent  with  him,  for  his 
services  would  he  greatly  needed  in  the  ruined 
house  which  was  to  be  the  cradle  of  the  reform  of 
Carmel.  Fra  Juan  and  his  companion  were  to 
pass  through  Avila  on  their  way  to  Duruelo ;  so 
St.  Teresa  wrote  a  letter  to  her  old  and  faithful 
friend,  and  in  some  ways  her  director,  Don  Francis 
de  Salcedo.  In  that  letter  she  thus  spoke  of  Fra 
J uan : 

.  ‘  I  beg  you  to  speak  to  liim,’  she  writes,  ‘  and  help  him  in 
this  affair;  for  though  he  is  but  a  little  man,  I  believe  him 
to  be  great  in  the  sight  of  God.  We  miss  him  here  very 
much  ,  for  he  is  a  man  of  prudence  and  well  fitted  for  our 
way  of  fife,  and  I  believe  that  our  Lord  has  called  him  to 
this  work.  There  is  not  a  friar  who  does  not  speak  well 
of  him,  for  his  life  has  been  most  penitential,  though  he  is 
still  young.  Besides,  our  Lord  seems  to  hold  him  by  the 
hand  ;  for  though  we  have  had  some  trouble  here — and  I 
am  a  very  trouble  myself,  for  I  have  been  angry  •with 
him  now  and  then— yet  we  never  saw  any  imperfection  in 
him.  He  has  courage,  but  as  he  is  alone  he  has  need 
of  all  the  courage  our  Lord  gives  him  to  undertake  this 
work  in  earnest.  He  will  tell  you  how  we  are  getting  on 
here.’  ° 

Having  finished  her  letter,  in  which  she  had 
spoken  of  many  things,  she  returns  again  to  Fra 
J  uan,  adding  the  following  paragraph  : 

‘  I  ask  you  once  more  to  be  so  good  as  to  speak  to  this 


42  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

father,  and  to  give  him  such  advice  as  yon  can  concerning 
his  way  of  life.  The  spirit  and  goodness  with  which  our 
Lord  has  filled  him  encourage  me,  amidst  our  many  diffi¬ 
culties,  to  think  that  we  are  making  a  good  beginning.  He 
is  a  man  much  given  to  prayer,  and  is  endowed  with  good 
sense.  Mav  our  Lord  be  good  to  him  !’* 

All  the  preparations  that  could  he  made  in 
Valladolid  being  made,  Fra  Juan  took  leave  of 
St.  Teresa  and  her  nuns,  and  begged  the  mother 
of  the  reform  to  bless  him  her  eldest  son,  for  he 
was  going  forth  into  a  strange  land,  and  quitting 
his  brethren  in  religion,  who  were  soon  after  to 
be  to  him  less  than  friends.  St.  Teresa  with  the 
nuns  wept  tears  of  joy  at  the  humility  of  the  father, 
and  promised  him  the  help  of  their  prayers ;  and 
then,  falling  on  their  knees,  begged  him  who  had 
been  their  spiritual  father  and  confessor,  as  the 
priest  of  our  Lord,  to  give  them  all  his  blessing. 
Fra  Juan  took  leave  of  the  saint,  and  set  out  for 
-Avila,  where  he  saw  Don  Francis  de  Salcedo;  and 
then  went  to  Duruelo,  avoiding  Medina  del  Campo, 
where  his  mother  and  brother  were  living,  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  the  reform  of  the  friars  of 
Carmel. 


*  Letter  10,  written  about  the  end  of  September  1568. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  Faint  in  Duruelo— Beginning  of  the  reform  of  the 
friars — Change  of  names — Life  in  Duruelo — St.  Teresa 
visits  the  friars— Monastery  of  Pastrana— Fra  Balta- 
sar  of  J esus — The  friars  remove  from  Duraelo  to  Man- 
zera — Novices  of  the  saint — St.  John  goes  to  Pastrana 
to  Alcala  de  ITenares — Fra  Pedro  Fernandez — Fra 
Angel  of  St.  Gabriel — Fra  Dominic  Banes — Francis 
de  Yepes. 

Fra  J uan  of  St.  Mathias  had  probably  never  seen 
the  house  in  Duruelo  which  he  was  to  turn  into  a 
monastery,  before  he  went  thither  to  take  posses¬ 
sion  of  it  in  the  autumn  of  1568.  Its  poverty- 
stricken  state  had  an  irresistible  charm  for  him, 
and  he  entered  it  with  joy  in  his  heart  because  he 
had  found  his  true  rest  on  the  earth.  He  began 
at  once  to  put  the  house  in  order  :  the  porch  wras 
to  be  the  church,  the  garret  over  the  inner  cham¬ 
ber  the  choir  of  the  religious,  the  only  room  in  it 
to  be  the  dormitory,  and  the  small  kitchen  was  to 
become  still  smaller,  for  a  part  of  it  w-as  to  be 
taken  for  the  refectory.  The  only  ornaments  of 
the  church  were  crosses  made  of  branches  of  trees. 
Then,  when  the  work  was  done  and  evening  had 
come,  Fra  Juan  sent  the  -workman  who  was  with 
him  to  the  village  to  beg  for  food,  for  there  was 


44  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

none  in  the  new  monastery  of  Carmel.  The 
people  gave  him  some  broken  bread ;  and  thus  they 
broke  the  fast  of  that  day. 

The  greater  part  of  the  night,  notwithstanding 
the  labour  of  the  day  before,  F  ra  J  uan  spent  in  prayer ; 
and  in  the  morning,  having  prepared  the  altar,  he 
proceeded  to  say  Mass.  The  habit  he  had  received 
from  St.  Teresa  he  laid  on  the  altar,  and  blessed, 
and  at  the  end  of  Mass  he  put  it  on.  He  had 
neither  shoes  nor  stockings — nothing  to  protect 
his  feet  from  the  ground :  he  was  as  poor  as  man 
could  well  be,  and  in  as  poor  a  monastery  as  any 
in  the  world.  Outwardly  and  inwardly  detached, 
he  fell  on  his  knees,  and,  with  fervent  thanksgiv¬ 
ing,  commended  himself  and  his  work  to  our  Lord, 
through  the  intercession  of  His  most  blessed 
Mother,  who  had  been  his  singular  protectress 
from  his  childhood  up  to  that  day. 

He  remained  here  alone,  for  Fra  Antonio  could 
not  come.  That  father,  however,  was  able  to 
leave  Medina  for  Valladolid,  to  see  St.  Teresa,  and 
to  give  her  an  account  of  the  preparations  he  had 
made  for  his  new  life  in  Carmel.  He  had  pro¬ 
vided  himself  with  five  hour-glasses,  to  insure 
punctuality — to  the  great  amusement  of  St. 
Teresa* — and  he  had  not  thought  of  even  a  bed  to 
lie  on.  But  it  was  not  his  fault  that  he  was  still 
absent  from  Duruelo.  He  was  prior  of  the  house 
in  Medina,  and  was  waiting  for  the  provincial, 


*  Foundations ,  xiv.  §  2. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


45 


who  also,  on  his  part,  was  unable  to  come.  How¬ 
ever,  he  came  at  last,  and  Fra  Antonio  resigned  his 
priorate,  and  renounced  the  mitigations  of  the  rule 
in  the  presence  of  the  provincial.  It  was  now 
nearly  the  end  of  November.  Fra  Antonio  took 
with  him  one  of  the  brethren,  Fra  Joseph,  not  yet 
a  priest,  and  reached  Duruelo  on  Saturday,  Decem¬ 
ber  27th,  the  eve  of  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent 
1568. 

The  night  was  spent  in  prayer  by  the  little 
community;  and  the  next  morning,  Fra  Antonio 
and  Fra  Juan  having  said  Mass,  the  three  friars, 
on  their  knees  before  the  Most  Holy,  weeping 
tears  of  joy,  renewed  the  solemn  vows  of  their  pro¬ 
fession,  and  renounced  the  mitigations  of  the  rule 
which  Eugenius  IV.  had  sanctioned.  They  then 
i  promised  our  Lord  and  His  most  blessed  Mother, 
the  most  holy  Mary  of  Mount  Carmel,  and  the 
most  reverend  the  Father-General  of  the  order, 
to  live  henceforth  under  the  primitive  rule  of  St. 
Albert,  and  to  keep  it  in  its  integrity  until  death, 
according  to  the  corrections  of  his  Holiness  Inno¬ 
cent  IV. 

They  then,  as  St.  Teresa  had  done,  changed 
their  names.  The  choir- brother,  Fra  Joseph,  be¬ 
came  Joseph  of  Christ  ;  Antonio  de  Heredia, 
Antonio  of  Jesus;  and  Juan  of  St.  Mathias,  John 
of  the  Cross.  Soon  after,  the  provincial  came  to 
Duruelo,  and  made  Fra  Antonio  prior,  Fra  John  of 
the  Cross  sub-prior  and  master  of  novices,  and  Fra 
Joseph  of  Christ  porter  and  sacristan.  There  was 


46 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


another  father  also  in  the  house,  who  had  come 
from  Medina  del  Campo,  in  the  hope  that  he 
mig’ht  he  able  to  live  under  the  old  rule.  But  as 
he  was  in  bad  health,  and  as  his  infirmities  grew 
under  the  severities  he  attempted  to  undergo,  he 
returned  to  the  mitigation.  Fra  Joseph  of  Christ 
also  fell  away,  and  returned  to  the  old  observance  ; 
but  the  two  friars  whom  St.  Teresa  had  chosen  re¬ 
mained  in  Duruelo.  Thus  the  reform  was  legally 
and  peaceably  begun,  with  the  consent  of  the  Ge¬ 
neral  of  the  order,  and  the  active  cooperation  of 
the  provincial,  Fra  Alonso  Gonzalez. 

Though  St.  John  of  the  Cross  had  lived  for 
two  months,  more  or  less,  in  Duruelo  before  the 
arrival  of  Fra  Antonio,  in  the  practice  of  the  primi¬ 
tive  rule,  the  foundation  of  the  reform  of  the  friars 
is  considered  to  have  been  made  on  the  first  Sun¬ 
day  in  Advent,  when  the  two  fathers  were  as¬ 
sembled  together  with  brother  Joseph.  In  the 
records  of  the  monastery  the  foundation  is  thus 
described : 

‘  In  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight, 
the  twenty-eighth  day  of  November,  this  monastery  of  our 
Lady  of  Mount  Carmel  was  founded  in  this  place.  In 
which  monastery  the  primitive  rule  in  its  rigour,  as  de¬ 
livered  unto  us  by  our  first  fathers,  began  to  be  observed 
by  the  help  and  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  the  father,  the 
doctor,  Fra  Alonso  Gonzalez  being  Provincial,  of  the  Pro¬ 
vince;  the  brothers  Fra  Antonio  of  Jesus,  Fra  John  of  the 
Cross,  and  Fra  Joseph  of  Christ,  by  the  grace  of  God  began 
to  live  according  to  the  rule  in  its  strictness.  The  house 
and  the  place  were  given  us  by  the  noble  lord  Don  Rafael 
Mejia  Velasquez,  the  owner ;  the  most  illustrous  lord,  Don 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  47 

-# 

Alonso  de  Mendoza,  Bishop  of  Avila,  consenting  to  the 
foundation  of  the  house.’* 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  reform  of  the 
friars ;  and  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that 
neither  St.  Teresa  nor  the  friars  of  the  reform  ever 
complained  of  any  laxity  in  the  houses  they  left. 
The  friars  of  the  mitigation  were  not  disorderly  in 
their  lives ;  they  kept  their  rule  and  constitutions, 
and  were  blameless  men.  The  reform  was  not  a 
reform  of  manners,  or  the  rooting  out  of  evil,  hut 
simply  a  restoration  of  the  olden  rule  which  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff  had,  for  good  reasons,  mitigated, 
but  had  never  suppressed.  The  general  of  the 
order  and  the  provincials  in  Spain  never  imagined 
at  the  time  that  the  reform  was  to  be  regarded  as 
a  censure  upon  them  and  their  brethren.  It  was 
a  lawful  and  perfect  life  which  men  lived  under  the 
rule  of  the  mitigation ;  it  was  a  lawful  life  also 
under  the  older  rule ;  and  though  the  observance 
of  the  latter  was  a  greater  perfection  than  the  ob¬ 
servance  of  the  former,  the  perfection  was  one  of 
degree,  not  of  kind;  for  the  friars  were  all  friars  of 
Carmel.  The  old  Carmelite  life  under  the  rule 
of  St.  Albert,  mitigated  by  Innocent  IV.,  had  be¬ 
come  the  Carmelite  life  under  the  same  rule  miti¬ 
gated  by  Eugenius  IV.  The  intention  of  St. 
Teresa  was  not  to  condemn  the  latter,  but  to  re¬ 
store  the  former  under  the  same  father-general 
of  the  order,  and  the  same  provincials  throughout 

*  Reforma  de  los  Descalcos,  vol.  i.  p.  272. 


48 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


Spain.  The  two  friars  began  to  order  their  lives 
according  to  the  old  rule,  and  to  make  for  them¬ 
selves  certain  constitutions  founded  on  the  obser¬ 
vances  which  St.  John  of  the  Cross  had  seen  in 
Valladolid,  and  which  were  substantially  those 
afterwards  adopted  in  the  order  when  it  was  firmly 
established  on  its  severance  from  the  old  observance 
of  the  mitigation. 

Though  St.  John  of  the  Cross  loved  his  cell, 
and  came  out  of  it  with  regret,  he  was  now,  by 
the  prior,  sent  out  to  preach  in  the  country 
round.  He  had  to  make  fatiguing  journeys,  and 
to  go  to  many  places  far  away  from  the  monastery, 
— travelling  always  on  foot,  and  his  feet  were  bare, 
for  he  wore  no  sandals  then, — in  the  depth  of  win¬ 
ter;  the  ground  hardened  by  frost  and  covered  with 
snow.  He  came  back  to  his  cell  as  soon  as  his 
work  was  done,  refusing  even  a  morsel  of  food, 
however  great  the  distance;  and  in  his  cell  was 
hardly  a  more  comfortable  place  than  the  roads 
rough  with  stones  and  the  briers  hidden  in  the 
snow. 

As  no  one  from  the  monastery  could  be  spared 
as  his  companion  on  these  journeys  of  charity,  he 
sent  to  Medina  del  Campo  for  his  brother  Francis, 
whose  poverty  was  nearly  as  great  as  his,  that  he 
might  have  him  with  him  on  the  road.  One  day, 
after  preaching  in  one  of  the  parish  churches,  St. 
John  came  down  from  the  pulpit  and  left  the 
church  with  his  brother.  The  priest  continued  the 
Mass,  and  when  it  was  over,  on  being  told  that  the 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


49 


preacher  had  departed  for  his  convent,  sent  his 
servant  to  overtake  him,  and  beg  him  to  return 
and  dine  with  him.  The  servant  overtook  St.  John 
and  delivered  his  message ;  but  the  preacher  made 
his  excuses  and  hastened  to  his  monastery,  not 
altogether  with  the  goodwill  of  his  brother,  who 
remonstrated  with  him,  and  said  it  was  an  un- 
courteous  treatment  of  the  parish  priest.  St.  John 
said  that  he  was  doing  the  work  of  God,  and  did 
not  wish  to  receive  payment  from  man.  So  when 
they  came  to  a  well  by  the  wayside,  St.  John  sat 
down,  and  holding  in  his  hand  a  little  bread  he 
had  taken  from  the  monastery,  divided  it  with  his 
brother,  and  both  dined  on  bread  and  water.* 

In  the  beginning  of  Lent  1569,  St.  Teresa, 
about  to  found  a  house  in  Toledo,  came  to  Duruelo 
from  Medina  on  her  way  to  Avila  from  Yalladolid. 
She  found  Fra  Antonio  sweeping  the  door  of  the 
church  ;  he  was  a  grave  and  portly  friar,  nearly 
sixty  years  of  age,  and  had  been  forty  years  in  the 
order.  ‘  What  has  become  of  your  dignity  ?’  said 
St.  Teresa  to  him;  and  his  answer,  borrowed  from 
the  prophet  was,  ‘  Cursed  be  the  day  wherein  I  had 
any.’  The  saint  herself  was  struck  by  the  poverty 
of  the  place,  by  the  resolution  and  devotion  of  the 
friars,  and  their  faithful  observance  of  the  rule. 
But  she  was  alarmed  at  the  penances  and  the  se¬ 
verities  of  the  house,  which  she  regarded  as  exces¬ 
sive,  and  which  she  feared  might  endanger  the 

*  Joseph  de  Jesu  Maria,  Histor.  cle  la  Vida  del  Fra 
Juan,  p.  130. 

E 


50  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

reform  by  shortening  the  lives  of  those  to  whom 
she  had  intrusted  it.  She  therefore  spoke  seriously 
on  the  subject  to  the  friars,  who,  she  said,  ‘  having 
gifts  I  had  not,  made  light  of  my  advice.’  She 
gave  thanks  to  God,  and  in  her  humility  confessed 
their  ways  to  be  safe.* 

They  were  bound  by  the  rule  to  fast  from  the 
Feast  of  the  Holy  Cross  in  September  till  Easter  in 
the  following  year,  a  continuous  fast  of  six  or  seven 
months ;  but  to  this  they  added  every  Friday  be¬ 
tween  Easter  and  the  Feast  of  the  Holy  Cross,  with 
the  eves  of  certain  feasts  on  which  there  is  no 
obligation  upon  the  faithful  to  fast.  They  took 
the  discipline  in  common  on  Monday,  Wednesday, 
and  Friday,  in  addition  to  the  other  days  which 
each  friar  had  chosen  for  himself  with  the  sanction 
of  his  superior.  Then  the  silence  was  almost  un¬ 
broken,  and  when  they  had  occasion  to  communi¬ 
cate  with  each  other,  they  did  so  generally  by  signs. 
There  was  also  a  daily  chapter  of  faults,  though 
the  rule  required  but  one  in  a  week. 

Such  mortification  and  humility  could  not  re¬ 
main  hidden ;  the  people  who  dwelt  around  came 
to  the  church,  and  filled  the  two  confessionals, 
which  had  been  made  in  a  part  of  the  room  in¬ 
tended  for  the  dormitory  of  the  fathers.  Not  poor 
people  only,  but  the  great  noblemen  in  the  neigh¬ 
bourhood  came  to  Duruelo,  and  intrusted  their 
consciences  to  the  friars,  "whose  austere  lives  were 
a  "wonder  in  the  country  round.  Among  them  was 

Foundations,  xiv.  §  11. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CKOSS.  51 

Don  Luis  de  Toledo,  a  near  relative  of  the  great 
Duke  of  Alva.  He  liad  built  a  church  in  Manzera, 
a  town  of  his  jurisdiction,  in  which  he  had  placed 
a  marvellous  picture  of  our  Lady  with  the  Infant 
Jesus  in  her  arms,  attended  by  two  angels.  That 
church  he  offered  now  to  the  fathers  of  Duruelo, 
and  with  it  the  means  of  building  a  monastery,  if 
they  would  remove  to  Manzera.  They  could  not 
make  up  their  minds  to  change.  Fra  Antonio, 
however,  went  to  preach  in  Manzera,  and  again 
Don  Luis  and  his  wife,  Dona  Isabel  de  Leiva,  so 
represented  to  him  the  advantages  of  the  place  and 
the  unhealthiness  of  Duruelo,  that  at  last  they 
won  the  reluctant  consent  of  Fra  Antonio. 

In  the  mean  while  St.  Teresa  found  means  to 
establish  another  monastery  of  friars  in  Pastrana — 
she  had  leave  from  the  General  of  the  order  to 
found  two — and  Fra  Antonio  went  thither  from 
Manzera,  in  July  15G9,  .leaving  the  house  of 
Duruelo  under  the  care  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross  ; 
St.  Teresa  at  the  same  time  founding  .the  sixth 
monastery  of  her  nuns.  She  had  sent  to  Medina 
for  a  nun,  Isabel  of  St.  Jerome,  and  begged  the 
prior  of  the  Carmelites  there  to  send  one  of  the 
fathers  with  her,  and  another  from  Avila.  The 
prior  sent  with  the  nuns  Fra  Baltasar  cf  Jesus, 
who  had  lately  told  Fra  Antonio  that  he  wished 
to  quit  the  mitigation  for  the  reform.  The  prior 
knew  nothing  of  this,  and  Fra  Baltasar  held  his 
peace,  regarding  his  mission  to  Pastrana  as  a 
grace.  On  his  arrival,  he  immediately  told  St. 


52  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

Teresa  of  his  intentions.  She  was  glad,  for  Fra 
Baltasar  was  a  zealous  friar  and  a  great  preacher, 
famous  in  the  order. 

Two  hermits  of  the  Tardon,  in  the  Sierra 
Morena,  had  come  to  Pastrana  to  take  the  habit 
of  our  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel ;  they  had  been 
won  to  the  order  by  St.  Teresa  soon  after  Pente¬ 
cost  of  this  year,  when  she  was  in  Madrid.  The 
postulants  were  eager  to  enter,  and  would  hardly 
wait  for  the  arrival  of  Fra  Antonio.  They  begged 
St.  Teresa  to  give  them  the  habit,  and  as  Fra 
Pedro  Muriel,  the  delegate  of  the  provincial,  was 
then  in  Pastrana,  the  matter  was  arranged.  The 
saint  and  her  nuns  made  the  habits,  the  stuff 
being  given  by  the  Duke  of  Pastrana,  in  the 
oratory  of  whose  house  the  ceremony  took  place. 
Fra  Baltasar  preached  a  most  moving  sermon, 
and  St.  Teresa  with  her  own  hands  gave  the 
habit  to  the  two  hermits,  Mariano  and  Juan  de 
la  Miseria,  while  Fra  Baltasar,  being  already  a 
Carmelite,  made  the  change  for  himself.  A  few 
days  later  Fra  Antonio  arrived,  and  the  three 
friars  under  him  took  formal  possession  of  their 
monastery.  He  remained  there  about  four  months, 
instructing  them  and  training  them  in  the  re¬ 
covered  discipline  of  Carmel.  On  his  departure 
for  Duruelo,  he  left  Fra  Baltasar  of  Jesus,  as  his 
vicar,  to  govern  the  house ;  for  he  was  a  priest,  and 
a  man  of  considerable  weight  in  the  order  before 
he  renounced  the  mitigated  observance. 

In  the  following  Lent,  1570,  Fra  Antonio 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  53 

was  in  Manzera  preaching,  and  labouring  with 
his  hands  in  building  the  monastery.  When 
the  house  wras  finished,  he  begged  the  provincial 
to  honour  the  removal  with  his  presence.  Fra 
Alonso  not  only  came  himself,  but  brought  with 
him  other  friars,  and  all  went  in  procession  from 
Duruelo,  June  2,  to  Manzera,  when  Fra  Alonso 
the  provincial  sung  the  Mass,  and  Fra  Antonio 
preached,  to  the  great  joy  of  all  the  people  of 
Manzera,  but  to  the  great  regret  of  those  who 
lived  in  Duruelo,  and  from  whom  the  friars  had 
gone  away. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  took  with  him  his  two 
novices.  One  of  them  was  a  lay  brother,  Fra 
Peter  of  the  Angels,  who  rose  to  great  heights  of 
sanctity,  and  died  as  he  had  lived,  in  Valladolid, 
in  1613,  outliving  his  master  for  more  than  twenty 
years ;  the  other  was  destined  for  holy  orders,  Fra 
J uan  Bautista,  and  wras  a  native  of  Avila.  He  was 
made  perfect  in  a  short  time,  and  died  in  the 
monastery  of  La  Boda,  in  1577. 

But  in  Manzera  they  had  thirteen  or  fourteen 
novices,  some  from  the  Carmelites  of  the  mitiga¬ 
tion,  some  from  the  world.  Among  the  latter 
was  a  doctor  from  the  University  of  Salamanca,  a 
learned  lawyer  and  an  able  man.  Grace,  how¬ 
ever,  found  a  way  into  his  heart,  and  he  left  his 
learned  companions  in  Salamanca  with  all'  his 
worldly  gains,  and  begged  to  be  received  among 
the  poor  friars  of  Manzera,  where  his  learning 
would  not  be  held  in  great  reverence,  but  where 


54 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


the  master  of  the  novices,  if  not  more  learned 
than  he,  possessed  a  learning  far  more  profitable 
than  is  always  taught  in  universities.  One  day, 
whether  for  the  sake  of  saying  something,  which 
is  the  common  weakness  of  us  all,  or  because  the 
old  Adam  had  got  the  upper  hand,  the  doctor  from 
Salamanca  observed  that  the  library  of  the  house 
was  poorly  furnished  with  certain  books.  The 
master  of  the  novices  heard  the  incautious  speech, 
and  ordered  the  cell  of  the  doctor  to  be  cleared  of 
all  books  whatever,  even  those  of  devotion,  and 
then  gave  him  a  child’s  first-book,  or  primer,  in 
which  there  were  also  some  elementary  instruc¬ 
tions  on  the  faith,  and  with  the  book  he  gave  him 
a  little  rod,  such  as  schoolmasters  use  in  pointing 
out  the  letters  to  young  children.  The  learned 
doctor,  who  had  often  disputed  in  the  schools,  was 
to  learn  his  letters  like  a  child,  and  spell  the  book 
through,  as  if  he  had  never  been  to  school  before, 
because,  as  the  master  of  the  novices  said,  of  his 
profound  ignorance  in  the  matter  of  Christian 
perfection. 

The  novice  deserved  to  have  such  a  master, 
for  he  humbled  himself;  he  learnt  his  lesson  like 
a  little  child,  and  gave  an  account  of  his  progress 
from  day  to  day  with  tears  of  compunction  and 
great  tenderness  of  heart.  He  persevered  in  the 
order,  and  was  a  good  religious  greatly  respected, 
and  even  a  provincial  in  it. 

The  religious  in  Manzera  had  a  more  con¬ 
venient  house  to  live  in;  but  it  wrought  no  harm 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


55 


to  regular  observance.  The  friars  lived  on  the 
alms  of  their  neighbours,  which  were  sometimes 
abundant,  and  at  other  times  scanty ;  but  none 
of  them  begged.  They  remained  at  home,  content 
with  whatever  God  sent ;  and  if  they  had  nothing, 
they  were  still  more  content.  Such  was  the  spirit 
of  their  training. 

While  Manzera  throve  under  the  safe  guidance 
of  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  Pastrana  was  in  danger; 
and  Fra  Antonio,  the  prior  of  Manzera  and  superior 
also  of  Pastrana,  determined  to  send  thither  his 
sub-prior  and  master  of  novices.  Accordingly,  in 
October  of  this  year,  1570,  St.  John  of  the  Cross 
went  to  Pastrana  to  instruct  the  novices  there ; 
and  Fra  Pedro  Fernandez,  the  apostolic  visitor, 
made  him  vicar  of  the  house  in  the  absence  of 
its  prior.  He  took  with  him  from  Manzera,  as 
his  companion,  the  lay  brother  already  mentioned, 
Peter  of  the  Angels,  whose  prudent  conduct  and 
exemplary  life  would  be  of  great  service  in  the 
house.  The  two  friars  travelled  on  foot,  begging 
their  bread,  which  they  shared  with  the  poor  they 
met.  At  night  they  rested  in  the  poorest  places, 
avoiding  great  houses  wherein  women  and  servants 
dwelt ;  and  when  they  found  no  house  poor  enough 
for  their  lodging,  they  slept  on  straw  in  barns 
and  outhouses,,  carefully  shunning  all  ease  and 
comfort,  keeping  in  mind  His  life  of  pain  and 
travail  who  had  no  place  to  rest  His  head.*  In 
the  novitiate  were  fourteen  persons,  four  of  whom, 
*  Joseph  cle  Jesu  Maria,  Vula,  <&c.  p.138. 


56 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


however,  were  professed,  and  all  were  fervent,  men 
of  mortification  and  prayer.  But  they  needed  in¬ 
struction,  and  some  of  them  needed  restraining;  for 
they  were  given  to  excesses  unfitted  for  their  state 
of  life.  Some  of  them  had  been  friars  of  the 
mitigation,  others  had  left  the  world  for  the  new 
Carmel ;  hut  there  was  no  one  in  the  house  who 
had  been  trained  under  the  first  novice-master  of 
the  reform. 

St.  John  began  by  explaining  to  them  the 
intent  and  meaning  of  their  vocation.  He  ex¬ 
plained  to  them  the  requirements  of  the  rule, 
the  spirit  hidden  under  the  letter  thereof,  and 
the  great  importance  of  the  observances  which 
were  the  several  pathways,  guards,  and  fences  of 
the  law  of  their  order.  So  persuasive  was  his 
language,  and  so  winning  his  ways,  that  no  one 
heard  him  unmoved.  Carmel  flourished,  made 
fruitful  by  the  dew  of  his  words. 

In  July  of  this  year,  1570,  and  before  St.  John 
went  to  Pastrana,  St.  Teresa  being  there  herself, 
present  at  the  profession  of  the  two  friars  whom 
she  had  won  in  Madrid,  it  was  resolved  that  a  col¬ 
lege  should  he  founded  for  the  order  in  Alcala  de 
Henares,  for  the  instruction  of  the  friars,  and  for 
avoiding  all  occasions  of  dispute  with  those  of  the 
mitigation,  who  also  had  a  college  there.  St. 
Teresa  was  now  powerless,  for  she  had  leave  to 
found  only  two  monasteries,  and  these  were  al¬ 
ready  founded.  The  provincial,  however  friendly, 
could  not  help  them,  for  he  had  no  authbrity  in 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CHOS3.  57 

that  matter.  Application  was  made  to  the  apos¬ 
tolic  visitor,  who  readily  gave  his  consent,  and  the 
Duke  of  Pastrana,  the  Prince  Buy  Gomez,  coming 
thither  at  the  time,  gave  them  a  sum  of  money 
towards  the  purchase  of  a  house,  and  promised  to 
endow  the  college,  so  that  the  order  should  be 
able  to  maintain  in  it  at  least  eighteen  students. 
Fra  Francis  of  the  Conception  bought  a  house,  and 
had  everything  ready  by  the  beginning  of  October, 
when  Fra  Baltasar  of  Jesus,  now  professed,  and 
Prior  of  Pastrana,  went  thither  to  take  possession 
and  make  the  foundation.  The  college  was 
opened  on  the  Feast  of  All  Saints,  and  Fra  Bal¬ 
tasar  began  to  preach  in  the  city.  So  powerful 
was  his  preaching,  and  so  attractive  was  his  mor¬ 
tified  life,  that  the  whole  university  crowded  to 
hear  him.  Many  of  the  students  left  the  world 
for  the  cloister,  and  some  of  them  went  to  Pas¬ 
trana  as  novices  in  Carmel,  under  St.  John  of  the 
Cross.  Fra  Baltasar  having  done  his  part  of  the 
work,  to  the  great  regret  of  the  university,  re¬ 
sumed  his  place  as  prior  of  Pastrana,  St.  John  of 
the  Cross  was  sent  to  Alcala  de  Henares  as  rector 
of  the  college  which  Fra  Baltasar  had  just  founded, 
leaving  the  novices  in  the  care  of  Fra  Gabriel 
of  the  Assumption,  who,  unhappily,  not  long 
after,  was  charged  with  other  duties,  and  the 
novices  were  then  placed  under  Fra  Angel  of  St. 
Gabriel.* 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1571,  the  college 
*  Reforma  de  los  Dcscalcos,  vol.  ii.  p.  107. 


58 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 


of  our  Lady  of  Carmel  in  Alcala  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  novice-master,  who  had  formed  and 
fashioned  Duruelo,  Manzera,  and  Pastrana.  It 
was  trained,  though  a  house  of  studies,  as  the 
others  had  been  trained,  in  the  fear  of  God  and 
perfect  detachment  from  earth.  The  example  and 
teaching  of  St.  John  were  not  in  vain  ;  the  students 
of  the  house  passing  to  and  fro  to  the  lectures  of 
the  university,  calm,  recollected,  with  downcast 
eyes,  and  never  in  a  hurry,  attracted  the  observa¬ 
tion  of  the  city,  and  won  its  respect.  These 
students  of  Carmel  were  a  wonder  there,  bare¬ 
footed  and  poorly  clad ;  for  the  people  knew  that 
many  of  them  were  wellborn  and  had  been  deli¬ 
cately  nurtured.  Their  food  was  poor  and  scanty  * 
and  of  the  little  given  them  they  left  some  for  the 
poor,  and  not  unfrequently  feasted  themselves  on 
bread  and  water.  Regular  discipline,  fasting, 
watching,  and  other  mortifications  humbled  the 
pride  of  life,  and  made  the  understanding  captive 
under  the  dominion  of  faith  ;  St.  John  of  the 
Cross,  with  unflagging  watchfulness,  encouraging 
them  in  their  studies,  setting  devotion  and  piety 
on  a  higher  level  than  learning  ;  so  that  from  his 
example  it  became  a  saying  in  the  colleges  of  the 
order,  ‘  Religious  and  studious,  but  religious  above 
all.’ 

The  apostolic  visitor,  Fra  Pedro  Fernandez  of 
the  order  of  St.  Dominic,  came  at  this  time  to 
Alcala  in  the  execution  of  his  office.  His  fellow, 
seeing  the  austerities  of  the  college— which  he 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


59 


considered  to  be  a  prison  rather  than  a  house  of 
study — begged  the  visitor  to  put  some  limits  to 
the  austerities  practised  therein.  Fra  Pedro  was  a 
wiser  man :  he  would  make  no  change  in  the 
order  of  the  house,  the  fervour  of  which  was  to 
him  a  comfort  and  joy.  He  told  them  all  not  to 
let  their  studies  be  a  source  of  weakness  to  them 
in  their  austerities;  for  if  they  died  under  the 
severities  which  they  practised,  such  a  death 
wrould  be  a  better  sermon  than  they  could  ever 
hope  to  preach  in  a  pulpit.  They  would  do  a 
greater  work  for  the  Church  ;  for  the  world  was  full 
of  learning,  and  empty  of  wrorks  of  penance. 

While  the  college  in  Alcala  was  growing,  the 
house  in  Pastrana  fell  into  disorder  again.  There 
Fra  Angel  of  St.  Gabriel,  newdy  made'  priest,  full 
of  zeal,  fervent  and  mortified,  but  not  gifted  in  the 
discretion  required  in  a  master  of  novices,  had,  on 
the  departure  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  begun  to 
make  changes,  and  to  disturb  the  settled  order  of 
the  house.  He  would  have  all  carry  the  same 
burden,  making  no  account  of  age,  strength,  or 
temper.  A  severe  life  was  all  he  thought  of,  and 
he  measured  all  spiritual  advancement  by  the  fre¬ 
quency  and  severity  of  penitential  exercises.  He 
invented  new  methods  of  mortification ;  and  the 
more  terrible  they  wrere,  the  more  he  liked  them. 
Some  of  these  mortifications  were  public,  and  in 
the  sight  of  persons  of  the  world;  but  unhap¬ 
pily  that  which  at  first  ..^ved  men  to  wonder,  and 
perhaps  to  compunction,  became  before  long  the 


60 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


occasion  of  jest  and  mockery.  Fra  Angel  farther 
forgot  the  rule  and  spirit  of  his  order ;  he  sent 
the  novices  out  into  the  villages  to  teach  the 
children  their  catechism,  and  in  doing  so  made 
them  adopt  the  ways  and  manners  of  members  of 
other  orders,  who  could  lawfully  do  so.  He  did  not 
consider  that  the  novice  in  Carmel  v-as  primarily 
called  to  a  life  of  retirement  and  contemplation. 
He  also  sent  them  out  to  attend  funerals ;  and, 
still  farther  departing  from  the  rule  and  practice 
of  the  order,  sent  them  out  of  the  monastery  to  beg. 
He  w'as  an  earnest  fiery  man  of  strong  will,  and 
his  superiors  were  not  able  to  withstand  him, 
still  less  to  control  him. 

Fra  Antonio  of  Jesus  and  other  grave  fathers, 
knowing  the  state  of  the  house  in  Pastrana,  con¬ 
sulted  together,  and  agreed  that  there  was  hut  one 
help  for  it — to  send  the  first  novice-master  of 
Carmel  thither  at  once.  His  work  in  Alcala  they 
felt  w'as  important ;  but  it  had  been  well  done, 
and  the  college  wtis  sound  and  healthy.  But  even 
if  he  had  not  yet  done  his  work  there,  they  must 
have  sent  him  to  Pastrana,  for  that  had  become 
now  the  chief  novitiate  of  the  order.  It  was  of 
the  last  importance,  therefore,  to  bring  it  again  to 
its  former  state.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  left  Alcala 
for  Pastrana  to  undo  the  work  of  a  whole  year,  and 
to  reduce  a  whole  monastery — for  the  professed 
fathers  had  also  been  led  astray— into  the  true 
pathways  of  the  new  Carmel. 

He  came  to  Pastrana  in  the  beginning  of  the 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  TIIE  CROSS.  61 

year  1572,  and  began  bis  work  gently  and  ten¬ 
derly.  In  the  first  place  he  put  an  end  to  the 
public  humiliations,  and  then  to  the  singular 
penances  which  were  done  in  the  house.  He 
brought  the  monastery  back  by  degrees  to  the 
spirit  of  the  rule  and  the  observance  of  those  con¬ 
stitutions  which  he  and  Fra  Antonio  had  agreed 
upon  in  the  beginning  when  they  were  together 
in  Duruelo.  He  showed  the  novices  that  their 
spirit  was  peculiar — for  every  vocation  has  its  own 
means  for  its  own  ends — and  that  they  were  not 
to  adopt  the  practices  even  of  the  greatest  saints 
if  they  were  not  suited  to  their  vocation.  Their 
chief  work  was  prayer  and  meditation,  “  dwelling 
alone  in  the  forest,  in  the  midst  of  Carmel,”*  away 
from  the  noise  of  men ;  keeping  the  rule ;  for  a 
good  work,  however  good,  ceased  to  be  a  good 
work  in  them  if  it  were  not  a  good  work  according 
to  the  rule.  Each  order  in  holy  Church  has  its 
peculiar  work  and  spirit;  and  confusion  alone, 
with  the  ruin  of  vocations,  can  come  out  of  that 
spirit  of  disorder  which  leads  one  man  to  do  the 
work  of  another. 

Fra  Angel  of  St.  Gabriel,  though  a  mortified 
man,  was  still  more  mortified  when  he  saw  his 
work  undone.  He  could  neither  suffer  in  silence, 
nor  persuade  himself  that  he  had  made  any  mis¬ 
takes.  Hurt  to  the  quick  by  the  crumbling  of  his 
buildings  on  the  sand,  he  made  a  formal  complaint 
to  St.  Teresa.  In  the  letter  he  wrote  to  her,  it 

*  Mich.  vii.  14. 


62 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


was  not  enough  for  him  to  describe  what  St.  John 
of  the  Cross  had  done,  hut  he  must  also  give  his 
reasons  for  his  own  conduct,  and  defend  the  method 
he  had  pursued  with  the  novices.  St.  Teresa  was 
at  this  time  prioress  of  the  monastery  of  the  In¬ 
carnation  in  Avila,  where  she  had  been  a  novice 
and  a  nun  herself.  She  was  of  one  mind  with  Si. 
John  of  the  Cross,  hut  she  was  too  wise  to  say  so  to 
Fra  Angel  in  his  then  mood ;  so  she  sent  his  letter, 
with  another  from  herself,  to  her  trusted  counsel¬ 
lor  Fra  Dominic  Banes,  who  was  then  reader  in 
theology  in  St.  Stephen’s,  the  house  of  his  order 
in  Salamanca,  hut  soon  to  ascend  one  of  the  public 
chairs  in  that  great  university.  Father  Banes 
answered  the  saint  at  great  length,  and  wholly  in 
favour  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross.  But  as  that 
letter  shows  forth  the  common  sense  as  well  as  the 
spiritual  knowledge  olthat  learned  Dominican,  and 
is  not  easily  accessible,  some  may  he  glad  to  know 
its  contents.  After  certain  general  observations, 
in  which  he  speaks  slightingly  of  himself,  Banes 
writes  thus  :* 

‘  This  master  of  the  novices — Fra  Angel— seems  to  be  a 
zealous  man  with  good  intentions ;  and  as  he  wishes  for 
light,  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  be  denied  him.  May 
Jesus  Christ  give  it  him,  and  teach  him  what  perfection  is ! 
Discite  a  me,  quia  mitis  sum  et  humilis  corde.  He  who  is 
of  a  meek  and  humble  heart  is  so  wrapt  in  the  mercy  of 
God,  knowing  the  depths  of  his  own  wretchedness,  that  he 
regards  himself  as  not  worthy  to  breathe  the  air  or  to  tread 
the  ground,  and  lives  in  fear  of  the  justice  of  God,  akvays 

*  Reforma  de  los  Dcscalcos,  vol.  i.  p.  373. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  (Vd 

afraid  that  he  is  sinning  against  Him.  Outward  penances 
and  mortifications  help  us  much  to  attain  to  this  humility ; 
but  then  they  must  be  done  according  to  that  prudence 
which  comes  from  God,  and  that  prudence  lies  in  obedience 
to  law:  our  Lord  humbled  Himself  and  was  obedient.  To 
make  a  pilgrimage  without  any  other  necessity  is  not  a 
prudent  mortification  in  a  friar  whose  profession  binds 
him  to  such  strict  separation  from  the  world  as  the  primi¬ 
tive  rule  does.  As  the  novices  are  to  be  recollected  men, 
the  wray  to  train  them  is  not  to  let  them  have  their  own 
way  in  mortifications.  To  copy  the  fathers  of  the  Society 
is  to  found  another  order,  and  not  to  build  up  that  of 
Carmel.  These  fathers  have  no  distinguishing  habit ;  their 
profession  is  not  that  of  separation  from  the  -world ;  they 
are  not  bound  to  silence  and  fasting,  and  never  meet  in 
choir ;  their  work  is  in  the  world,  conversing  with  all, 
teaching  the  Christian  doctrine ;  nor  is  it  anything  out  of 
the  way  that  they  should  do  so. 

But  the  friar  and  the  monk  are  under  no  necessity  to 
seek  for  practices  which  are  strange  to  their  order.  Let 
them  follow  their  profession  and  be  silent ;  and  they  will 
become  saints  without  letting  the  world  know  of  their 
mortifications.  I  do  not  think  much  of  those  men  who  are 
zealous  for  the  edification  of  their  neighbours.  It  is  said 
of  St.  Francis  that  men  took  him  for  a  fool;  that  he  strip¬ 
ped  himself,  and  put  on  clothes  fit  only  for  the  poorest  of 
men  :  I  respect  that,  because  it  wras  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  but  to  copy  actions  of  this  kind,  which  are  rare,  is 
acting  a  part.  St.  Francis  at  this  time  vTore  no  religious 
habit,  belonged  to  no  order,  and  had  taken  no  vows ;  his 
conduct  was  prudent  in  the  state  he  was  in. 

If  this  father  says  in  reply  that  he  feels  himself  moved 
to  do  acts  of  this  kind,  I  would  rather  he  made  trial  of 
other  ways  which  are  more  sanctioned  by  the  Church. 
Let  people  fast  and  watch,  as  the  saints  did.  They  cannot. 
That  is  their  answer,  and  they  are  in  the  right ;  for  they 
have  not  the  spirit  of  the  saints.  Then  let  them  be  certain 
of  this  :  if  they  are  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  such  ex- 


64  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOS8. 

tremities  of  penance  as  these,  they  must  first  of  all  test 
themselves  in  fastings,  watchings,  and  prayer. 

The  father  says  that  he  shall  become  melancholy  if 
he  is  thwarted.  I  do  not  like  that.  He  is  too  much  at¬ 
tached  to  novelties  and  untried  ways.  If  he  wishes  for 
mortification,  here  is  a  real  one  for  him :  let  him  belie\  e 
that  he  has  made  a  mistake. 

I  beg  you,  however,  to  console  him,  and  advise  him  tc 
practise  obedience  and  be  silent.  Our  Lord  kept  silence 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  preached  but  for  two.  I 
hope  you  will  send  him  this  my  letter,  and  ask  him  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  I  wish  to  serve  him  in  his  zeal.  May  our  Lord 
give  us  the  light  of  His  grace,  and  keep  you  in  it ! 

Your  servant  in  Christ, 

Fra  Domingo  Banes. 

St.  Stephen’s,  Salamanca, 

April  23,  1572.’ 

Francis  de  Yepes,  the  brother  of  St.  John,  came 
to  Pastrana  by  the  invitation  of  the  latter,  who 
gave  him  work  in  the  garden  of  the  monastery ; 
and  when  the  Duke  of  Pastrana  came  to  visit  the 
master  of  the  novices,  his  attention  was  directed  to 
Francis  in  his  poor  clothes  and  in  his  daily  work 
by  St.  John.  To  humble  himself  the  more  before 
the  great  benefactor  of  his  order,  he  was  careful  to 
tell  him  that  his  brother  was  poor,  and  that  he 
earned  his  bread  by  the  labour  of  his  hands.  Fie 
did  this  on  all  occasions  when  anybody  came  to 
pay  him  visits  of  ceremony  or  politeness,  contriv¬ 
ing  somehow  or  other  to  mortify  himself  by  show¬ 
ing  his  brother  at  work. 


CHAPTER  V. 


St.  Teresa  sends  for  St.  John  of  the  Cross  to  Avila — Refor¬ 
mation  of  the  monastery — Illness  of  a  nun — Trances — 
Rxorcisms — A  learned  nun — Conversion  of  sinners — • 
The  saint  goes  to  Segovia. 

Before  St.  John  of  the  Cross  went  to  Pastrana, 
and  while  he  was  still  in  Alcala  de  Henares,  St. 
Teresa  had  been  sent  by  the  apostolic  visitor,  Fra 
Pedro  Fernandes,  of  the  order  of  St.  Dominic,  to 
the  monastery  of  the  Incarnation  in  Avila,  as 
prioress  of  that  house.  The  nuns  were  unwilling 
to  receive  her,  partly  because  they  had  not  elected 
her,  and  partly  because  they  feared  they  might  be 
compelled  to  adopt  the  primitive  rule.  Notwitfn 
standing  the  opposition  of  the  nuns,  the  saint  in 
October  1571  entered  and  took  possession  of  the 
stall  of  the  prioress,  and  winning  by  degrees  the 
affections  of  the  discontented  nuns,  changed  the 
state  of  the  monastery. 

But  in  order  to  do  her  work  the  more  surely, 
and  leave  durable  traces  of  her  presence  behind, 
she  asked  the  visitor  for  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  as 
.  confessor  of  the  monastery.  The  visitor  assented 
gladly,  and  the  saint  came  without  delay,  having 


66  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  TIIE  CROSS. 

with  him  another  friar,  German  of  St.  Mathias,  as 
his  companion.  The  visitor  lodged  them  in  a 
small  house  close  to  the  monastery  of  the  Incarna¬ 
tion,  where  they  could  live  in  peace,  withdrawn 
from  the  tumult  of  the  city  and  the  concourse  of 
idle  men.  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1572. 

The  great  holiness  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross, 

*  hitherto  hidden  and  known  to  few,  began  now  to 
be  spoken  of  outside  the  order ;  the  nuns  of  the 
Incarnation  gave  him  their  confidence  without,  any 
reservation,  and  changed  their  lives.  'St.  Teresa 
had  put  an  end  to  the  great  distractions  which 
.  were  the  results  of  too  many  visits  to  the  monas¬ 
tery  on  the  part  of  seculars,  and  St.  J ohn  of  the 
Cross  made  the  work  perfect,  by  stopping  directly 
and  indirectly  the  confessions  which  the  nuns  made 
to  priests  who,  if  they  were  not  lax  themselves, 
were  without  the  courage  and  the  wTill  to  correct 
the  laxity  of  the  nuns,  by  forbidding  the  frequent 
resort  to  the  parlours.  He  dealt  with  the  nuns 
gently  and  tenderly,  but  with  unfailing  firmness, 
and  by  degrees  the  community  under  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  St.  Teresa,  though  not  keeping  the  rule 
which  the  prioress  and  the  two  confessors  observed, 
became  a  most  edifying  and  recollected  house ;  and 
the  saint  herself,  in  a  letter  written  September 
27,  1572,  to  her  sister  Dona  Juana,  says :  4  The 
barefooted  friar  who  is  confessor  here  is  doing 
great  things  :  he  is  Fra  John  of  the  Cross.’ 

Hot  long  after  St.  John  came  to  the  Incarna¬ 
tion  one  of  the  nuns,  Doha  Maria  de  Yera,  was 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CHOSS.  67 

seized  with  sickness,  and,  before  the  greatness  01 
her  danger  was  suspected  by  the  nuns,  became 
insensible.  They  then  recognised  the  danger,  and 
sent  for  St.  John  of  the  Cross  to  administer  the 
last  Sacraments.  But  before  he  entered  the  mon¬ 
astery  the  nun  was  dead,  to  the  extreme  grief  of  her 
sisters,  one  of  whom,  as  he  was  entering  the  in¬ 
firmary,  reproached  him  in  the  bitterness  of  her 
sorrow  as  if  he  had  been  to  blame.  ‘  Is  this  the 
way,’  she  said  to  him,  ‘  you  take  care  of  your  chil¬ 
dren?  This  one  has  died  unconfessed.’  The  holy 
man  made  no  answer,  but  turned  back  and  went 
straight  to  the  church,  where  before  the  Most  Holy 
he  made  known  his  distress,  and  begged  humbly 
for  help. 

After  some  considerable  time  the  nuns  sent  him 
word  that  their  sister  was  restored  to  life,  where- 
upon  he  left  the  church,  and  on  the  way  meeting  j 
the  nun  who  had  spoken  to  him  before,  said  only 
these  words,  ‘My  child,  are  you  satisfied?’  He 
then  went  up  to  the  infirmary,  heard  the  nun’s 
confession,  and  gave  her  the  last  Sacraments;  then 
when  he  had  done  for  her  all  that  could  be  done, 
God  took  her  to  Himself. 

He  was  kind  to  these  poor  nuns  in  every  way, 
and  indeed  they  were  much  to  be  pitied ;  for  the 
monastery  was  very  large  and  very  poor,  the  nuns 
more  than  a  hundred  in  number,  and  occasionally 
in  distress,  wanting  both  food  and  raiment.  They 
may  be  said  to  have  had  poverty  without  the  merits 
thereof,  for  they  were  not  bound  so  strictly  as  the 


*68  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

barefooted  nuns  of  tbe  reform.  St.  John  of  the 
Cross  took  compassion  on  them  even  in  their  out¬ 
ward  distresses ;  for  one  day  seeing  a  nun  in  a  habit 
utterly  unsuited  to  her,  because  of  its  extreme 
worthlessness,  he  went  out  and  begged  the  means 
of  supplying  her  with  another,  for  the  monastery 
was  too  poor  to  do  so. 

In  the  year  1578,  on  the  octave  of  St.  Martin, 
as  St.  Teresa  tells  us,  he  mortified  that  saint  in 
the  very  act  of  communion.  St.  Teresa  liked  to 
receive  large  hosts,  and  had  said  so  to  St.  John  of 
the  Cross.  So  he,  the  great  teacher  of  perfect  de¬ 
tachment,  gave  a  lesson  to  the  foundress  of  the 
new  Carmel,  and  on  that  day  divided  the  host 
between  her  and  one  of  the  nuns,  because,  as  she 
says,  ‘  he  wished  to  mortify  me.’* 

It  was  in  the  parlour  of  the  Incarnation  that 
the  nuns  saw  with  their  own  eyes  the  concurrent 
ecstasies  of  the  two  great  saints  to  whose  care  they 
had  been  committed.  Beatriz  of  Jesus,  one  of 
the  sisters,  but  who  afterwards  left  that  house, 
became  a  barefooted  nun,  and  died  in  the  mon¬ 
astery  of  Ocana,  went  to  the  parlour  on  Trinity 
Sunday  with  a  message  for  the  prioress.  To  her 
great  amazement,  she  saw  St.  Teresa  raised  in 
the  air,  unconscious  of  her  presence.  She  called 
other  nuns  in,  and  all  were  witnesses  of  the  same 
marvel.  On  the  other  side  of  the  grating  they 
saw  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  also  raised  above  the 
ground  in  the  same  way.  The  mystery  was  ex- 
*  Life  of  St.  Teresa ,  relation  lii.  §  19. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


69 


plained  to  them  afterwards.  The  two  saints  had 
begun  by  speaking  of  the  most  blessed  Trinity, 
and  had  fallen  into  a  trance  together.  St.  Teresa 
said  afterwards  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  one 
to  speak  of  God  to  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  for 
either  he  or  the  other  fell  into  a  trance.  On 
another  occasion,  when  they  were  conversing  toge¬ 
ther,  he  rose  from  his  seat,  trying  to  hide  from 
her  what  was  coming  on;  and  when  she  asked 
him  if  it  was  the  beginning  of  a  trance,  he  replied 
simply,  4 1  think  it  is.’ 

Calmly  and  quietly  he  did  his  work  among  the 
nuns,  who  gave  up  their  unnecessary  recreations 
and  many  practices  unseemly  in  the  cloister.  The 
wTorld  outside  became  conscious  of  the  change  with¬ 
in,  and  felt  that  saints  were  standing  by.  4  The 
city  is  amazed,’ wrote  St.  Teresa,  4  at  the  exceedingly 
great  good  he  has  done  there,  and  people  take 
him  for  a  saint ;  and  in  my  opinion  he  is  one,  and 
has  been  one  all  his  life.’* 

He  was  now  sought  for  throughout  Avila,  for 
his  great  gift  of  spiritual  direction.  Troubled 
consciences,  unquiet  scruples,  all  yielded  before 
him;  and  those  whom  melancholy  or  delusions 
had  led  astray  were,  by  his  skilful  guiding, 
brought  back  to  the  true  ways  of  the  spirit.  Re¬ 
ligious  houses  sent  for  him,  and  were  by  him 
wondrously  sustained  :  for  his  words  were  words  of 
heavenly  wisdom,  not  found  in  the  land  of  those 
whose  life  is  pleasant. 

*  Lett.  170,  to  Don  Pliilip  II.,  Dec.  4,  1577. 


70 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


In  a  monastery  in  Avila,  at  this  time,  lived  a 
mm  around  whom  Satan  had  thrown  his  net.  Her 
state  was  most  pitiable,  and  her  distress  almost 
unbearable,  for  she  was  tempted  by  the  spirit  of 
blasphemy,  doubt,  and  uncleanness.  St.  John  of 
the  Cross  was  sent  to  her  monastery.  She  re¬ 
vealed  to  him  the  whole  story  of  her  dismal 
temptations.  He  discerned  the  source  of  her 
troubles  and  applied  the  fitting  remedies,  while 
she  on  her  part  accepted  them,  and  was  delivered 
from  her  distress.  But  no  sooner  had  he  left  her 
than  the  evil  spirit  returned  to  the  assault.  To 
do  his  work  the  more  effectually,  he  came  dis¬ 
guised  in  the  likeness  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross, 
sent  for  the  nun  to  the  confessional,  and  there 
plied  her  with  his  deadly  teaching.  The  next  day 
came  the  servant  of  God  himself,  and  heard  tne 
confession  of  the  poor  nun,  who  had  been  more  at 
her  ease,  she  said,  because  she  had  obeyed  his  di¬ 
rection  given  the  night  before,  and  made  less  earn¬ 
est  resistance  to  the  temptations  by  which  she  w  as 
tormented.  The  servant  of  God  recognised  the 
deceit  of  the  tempter,  and  told  her  that  he  had 
not  given  her  any  directions  the  da^  oefoie,  and 
that  he  had  not  been  near  the  monastery.  The 
saint  then  gave  her  certain  instructions  in  writ¬ 
ing,  which  she  wTas  carefully  to  observe,  and  went 
his  way.  Immediately  afterwards  the  nun  received 
another  letter,  containing  farther  instructions,  but 
of  a  different  kind,  in  the  handwriting  of  the 
saint,  and  signed  writh  his  name — so  at  least  it  ap- 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


71 


peared  to  the  nun.  She  was  told  that  the  former 
instructions  required  some  correction,  because 
they  demanded  of  her  a  more  vigilant  watchful¬ 
ness  than  was  fitting  for  her  state,  seeing  that  a 
certain  degree  of  liberty  was  necessary  for  the 
avoidance  of  scrupulosity,  and  for  the  greater 
quiet  of  her  conscience.  The  handwriting  and 
signature  of  the  saint  were  counterfeited  so  skil¬ 
fully  that  he  himself,  when  he  saw  them,  admitted 
them  to  be  his,  but  he  recognised  the  forgery  in 
the  teaching — that  was  Satan’s,  not  his.  •  Seeing 
now  that  the  poor  nun  was  a  puppet  in  the  hand 
of  the  evil  one,  the  saint  had  recourse  to  the  exor¬ 
cisms  of  holy  Church,  and  so  delivered  her  from 
the  great  peril  she  was  in. 

In  another  monastery  he  wrought  another  cure 
of  a  more  marvellous  nature  still — that  of  a  nun 
who  amazed  everybody  by  her  learning.  She  could 
speak  many  languages,  and  was  versed  in  what  is 
called  the  arts  and  the  sciences.  She  could  dis¬ 
pute  in  theology  with  the  most  learned  theologian, 
and  her  knowledge  was  so  wonderful  that  people 
began  to  think  that  her  science  was  infused. 
Grave  doctors  regarded  her  with  reverence,  for 
they  were  afraid  to  suspect  her,  and  incur  the 
guilt  of  rash  judgment.  But  as  all  that  is  singular 
in  religion  is  almost  always  suspicious,  her  supe¬ 
riors  became  at  last  uneasy  about  her,  and  resolved 
to  have  her  spirit  tested  by  St.  John  of  the  Cross. 
ITe  was  most  unwilling  to'  undertake  the  task :  his 
sole  desire  was  to  be  left  alone  in  his  poor  cottage 


72 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 


near  the  monastery  of  the  Incarnation,  and  to  he 
forgotten  of  men. 

He  consented,  however,  to  see  the  nun ;  hut 
before  doing  so  he  prepared  himself  hy  earnest 
prayer  and  penance,  his  usual  armour,  and  then, 
committing  the  issues  to  our  Lord,  "went  to  the 
monastery.  The  nun  came  to  the  parlour,  where 
the  saint  was  waiting  for  her,  hut  the  moment  she 
saw  him  she  hegan  to  shake  with  a  sudden  fear, 
and  her  tongue,  usually  so  fluent,  refused  its 
office.  She  could  speak  no  language  hut  her  own  in 
the  presence  of  the  saint,  and  all  her  knowledge  de¬ 
parted  from  her.  Her  superiors  seeing  this,  and 
now  fully  persuaded  that  she  was  in  the  toils  of 
Satan,  and  a  source  of  indefinite  danger  to  the  reli¬ 
gious  around  her,  hegged  the  saint  to  perfect  the 
work  he  had  thus  begun.  Compassionating  the  poor 
soul  before  him,  he  yielded  to  their  request,  and 
exorcised  the  nun.  The  dumb  spirit  that  had 
taken  possession  of  her  had  to  yield  his  prey,  and 
to  reveal  the  whole  story  of  that  long  possession. 
The  poor  nun  from  her  very  earliest  years  had 
been  vain  and  foolish,  and  fond  of  human  ap¬ 
plause.  The  wicked  spirit  took  advantage  of  her 
curiosity  and  appeared  before  her,  though  she  did 
not  know  at  the  time  what  the  vision  meant,  and 
seized  upon  her  imagination  by  his  evil  beauty. 
She  herself  was  naturally  quick,  lively,  and  witty ; 
but  conscious  of  her  ignorance,  she  coveted  know¬ 
ledge  to  enable  her  to  shine  the  more.  This 
the  devil  promised  her,  on  the  condition  of  her 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


73 


promising  to  become  his  bride.  The  poor  soul, 
thus  in  the  power  of  the  evil  one,  became  more 
and  more  careless  about  her  soul,  and  at  last  began 
to  hate  God  and  His  service,  and  to  wish  that 
others  too  might  do  so. 

How  she  came  to  the  monastery  is  not  known. 
Whether  her  parents  were  too  poor  to  marry  her, 
or  whether  the  devil  tempted  her  for  his  own  ends 
to  feign  a  vocation  she  had  not,  remains  a  secret. 
But  the  monastery  received  her  with  joy,  for  her 
fame  was  spread  abroad;  and  the  nuns  among 
whom  she  lived  had  no  suspicion  of  the  dangers 
they  were  in  till  the  wiles  of  the  enemy  were  dis¬ 
covered,  and  the  evil  spirits  confessed  their  hateful 
presence.  St.  John  spoke  to  the  nun  of  the  mercy 
of  God,  and  enlightened  her  understanding  while 
moving  her  will.  She,  too,  felt  her  danger  now, 
and  undertook  to  do  all  that  was  in  her  power  to 
free  herself  from  this  visible  dominion  of  the 
devil. 

St.  John  went  home  to  the  monastery  of  the  In¬ 
carnation,  but  before  long  he  was  inwardly  admon¬ 
ished  to  return  to  the  house  where  the  possessed 
nun  was  living :  for  when  he  went  away,  the  evil 
spirit,  unwilling  to  confess  himself  beaten,  had 
knocked  at  the  gate  of  the  monastery,  in  the  dis¬ 
guise  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  and  asked  to  see 
the  nun  in  the  parlour,  saying  that  he  had  some¬ 
thing  to  say  to  her  which  he  had  forgotten.  The 
portress,  suspecting  nothing,  opened  the  door, 
and  allowed  him  to  enter,  and  the  nun  saw  him. 


74 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CBOSS. 


He  having  transformed  himself  into  an  angel  of 
light,  and,  for  his  evil  ends,  having  put  on  the 
likeness  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  spoke  to  her  of 
the  grievous  nature  of  her  sins,  of  the  impossi¬ 
bility  of  forgiveness,  and  of  the  power  of  the  devil 
to  compel  her  to  continue  in  his  service.  The 
poor  nun  was  overpowered,  and  her  distress  was 
the  greater  because  a  few  hours  before  St.  Jonn  of 
the  Cross,  whom  she  believed  to  be  then  present, 
had  spoken  to  her  of  the  compassion  of  God,  and 
encouraged  her  to  do  the  works  of  penance,  tiust- 
ing  in  His  mercy. 

St.  John  now  arrived  at  the  monastery,  and 
asked  to  see  the  nun.  The  portress  replied  that  it 
was  not  possible,  because  she  was  at  the  moment 
in  the  parlour  with  Fra  John  of  the  Cross.  *  How 
can  that  be  ?’  said  the  holy  man.  ‘  If  I  am  John 
of  the  Cross,  he  who  is  in  the  parlour  cannot  be 
so.’  The  portress,  amazed,  opened  the  door,  and 
allowed  him  to  enter.  He  went  straight  to  the 
parlour,  and  the  moment  he  came  in  the  evil 
spirit  vanished.  The  portress  had  meanwhile  told 
the  story  to  some  of  the  nuns,  and  these  hurried 
into  the  parlour,  where,  however,  they  saw  nothing 
but  the  nun  bitterly  weeping,  in  great  distress  of 
mind.  The  saint  now  exorcised  the  nun,  and  com¬ 
manded  the  evil  spirits,  in  the  name  of  God,  not 
only  to  confess  how  they  came  to  have  such  power 
over  that  poor  soul,  but  also  to  let  go  their  prey, 
and  cease  from  troubling  her  any  more.  The 
devil,  overcome,  told  the  whole  tale  of  the  posses- 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


75 


sion,  and  moreover  gave  up  tlie  contract  by  which 
the  nun  was  bound  to  him.  All  this  took  place 
in  the  presence  not  of  the  nuns  only,  but  of  certain 
secular  persons  also,  who  came  at  that  time  into 
the  house. 

His  power  over  evil  spirits  caused  the  prioress 
of  Medina  del  Campo  to  beg  St.  Teresa  to  send 
him  thither.  There  was  a  nun  in  the  house  so 
grievously  afflicted  with  melancholy,  that  her 
sisters  were  afraid  her  disease  was  not  natural. 
St.  John  went  thither  from  the  monastery  of  the 
Incarnation,  and  having  tried  the  nun,  pronounced 
her  disorder  akin  to  folly ;  in  the  course  of  time, 
his  decision  was  found  to  be  true.  St.  Teresa 
sent  a  letter  at  the  same  time  to  the  prioress, 
Ines  of  Jesus,  her  cousin,  in  which  she  says :  £  I 
send  you  Fra  John  of  the  Cross,  to  whom  God 
has  given  grace  to  drive  evil  spirits  away ;  he 
has  now  here  in  Avila  put  to  flight  three  legions 
of  devils,  whom  in  the  name  of  God  he  commanded 
to  tell  their  number,  and  he  was  obeyed  on  the 
instant.’* 

Not  the  devil  only,  but  the  world  also  was 
subject  to  his  power.  There  was  then  in  Avila 
a  young  lady,  beautiful,  wealthy,  and  nobly  born, 
but  whose  daily  life  was  a  scandal  because  of  her 
vanity  and  the  extravagance  of  her  dress.  The 
young  men  of  the  city,  captivated  by  her  beauty, 
and  under  the  spell  of  her  manners,  flocked  around 

*  Lett.  30 ;  the  date  is  not  known,  but  probably  written 
when  St.  Teresa  was  prioress  of  the  Incarnation. 


78  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

her  whenever  they  could,  to  the  great  terror  of  her 
friends  and  relatives,  who  were  alarmed  at  the  free¬ 
dom  of  her  life,  and  jealous  of  her  honour.  They 
implored  her  to  go  to  confession  to  St.  John  of  the 
Cross.  It  was  their  only  hope  of  saving  her  from 
imminent  ruin.  She  heeded  them  not,  and  steadily 
refused  to  go  near  a  confessor  whom  she  knew  to 
he  unlikely  to  allow  her  to  continue  her  amuse¬ 
ments.  But  her  friends  persisted,  and  at  last  she 
consented  to  make  a  confession  to  the  man  of 
God.  This  was  more  than  her  friends  had  hoped 
for  latterly,  for  they  begged  her  now  only  to  speak 
to  the  father  as  so  many  did;  some,  indeed,  out  of 
curiosity  rather  than  out  of  devotion. 

She  went  to  the  church  and  to  the  confes¬ 
sional,  out  of  which  she  hardly  expected  to  coine 
forth  alive,  so  much  did  she  fear  him ;  for  she 
knew  nothing  of  him  but  his  austerities  and  un¬ 
worldly  life  so  unlike  her  own.  He  heard  her 
confession,  and  spoke  so  gently  to  her,  that  she 
was  seized  with  amazement,  and  resolved  to  re¬ 
turn  to  the  same  confessional.  She  did  so,  and 
changed  her  life,  putting  aside  her  rich  dresses, 
avoiding  idle  company  and  light  amusements, 
doing  penance  and  wearing  sackcloth.  Her  con¬ 
version  was  a  joy  not  only  to  her  family,  but  to 
the  whole  city;  and  her  whole  life  from  that  day 
forward  edified  her  neighbours  more  than  her 
former  excesses  of  untamed  spirits  had  offended 
them. 

The  world  felt  the  power  of  that  holiness  which 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


77 


was  growing  in  secret  in  tlie  poor  cottage  against 
the  wall  of  the  monastery,  but  it  knew  in  reality 
little  or  nothing  of  the  unearthly  life  led  within 
it ;  of  the  long  vigils,  of  the  sharp  discipline,  and 
of  the  still  sharper  discipline  of  perpetual  watch¬ 
fulness  over  every  idle  thought,  in  order  to  avoid 
the  idle  wTord  that  bringeth  judgment  in  its  train. 

Two  other  conversions  are  recorded,  both  won¬ 
derful  and  both  effectual,  wrought  by  his  ministry 
while  he  was  confessor  of  the  nuns  of  the  Incarna¬ 
tion  in  Avila. 

One  was  that  of  a  nun  who  had  gone  far 
astray,  and  who  had  become  a  scandal  in  the 
city.  She  had  set  aside  the  obligations  of  her 
state,  led  a  worldly  life,  conversing  with  seculars, 
and  wasting  her  time  in  unprofitable  amusements, 
and  even  worse.  At  last  her  conscience  was 
seriously  disturbed,  and  she  went  to  confession 
to  St.  John  of  the  Cross.  The  servant  of  God 
heard  her  patiently,  and  she  told  him  the  whole 
story  of  her  misspent  life.  The  poor  nun  returned 
to  her  cell  fully  resolved  to  serve  God  only  for 
the  rest  of  her  days,  and  broke  off  from  all  her 
former  levities.  But  one  of  those  who  too  often 
frequented  the  parlour  of  her  monastery,  a  wealthy 
and  powerful  personage  in  Avila,  was  not  pleased 
at  her  conversion,  for  she  never  would  see  him  or 
any  other  idler  as  of  old,  and  accordingly  resolved 
upon  revenge.  He  knew  well  enough  whose  in¬ 
fluence  had  been  stronger  than  his,  so  he  waited 
one  night  near  the  monastery  of  the  Incarnation, 


78  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

for  the  coming  forth  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross  from 
the  confessional  of  the  church,  according  to  his 
wont.  The  saint  came  out  and  went  towards  his 
house,  when  this  man  fell  upon  him,  and  beat 
him  so  cruelly  that  he  was  nearly  dead.  Though 
he  knew  who  he  was,  and  knew  too  why  he  was 
thus  insulted,  he  never  complained,  and  never 
said  who  it  was  that  had  thus  been  so  merciless 
to  him.  But  he  did  say  afterwards  to  some  of 
his  brethren  that  he  never  was  so  happy  in  all 
his  life  as  he  was  then,  suffering  for  the  sake  of 
justice,  and  that  the  blows  of  the  angry  man  were 
as  sweet  to  him  as  the  shower  of  stones  to  St. 
Stephen. 

The  other  conversion  was  that  of  a  young  lady 
of  a  noble  house  in  Avila,  with  great  gifts  of  mind 
and  body.  She  was  a  penitent  of  the  saint,  and 
lived  near  the  monastery  of  the  Incarnation.  Satan 
pursued  her  with  great  malignity,  and  in  the  end 
brought  her  to  the  very  brink  of  ruin.  She  gave 
up  the  battle  as  lost,  and  yielded  to  her  unwearied 
tempter.  One  night,  as  the  servant  of  God  was 
in  prayer  in  his  house,  he  was  surprised  by  the 
sudden  apparition  before  him  of  his  penitent.  He 
trembled  with  fear,  and  signed  himself  with  the 
sign  of  the  cross,  for  he  believed  that  Satan  him¬ 
self  stood  before  him.  The  poor  girl,  divining  his 
thoughts,  told  him  he  need  not  be  afraid ;  it  was 
she  herself,  and  not  the  devil,  who  had  thus  come 
into  a  room  where  she  ought  not  to  set  her  foot. 
She  then  told  him  that  she  had  been  tempted 

.  r.  .  f  •  .  '  ‘ 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 


79 


sorely,  and  that  she  had  resolved  to  fight  no 
longer ;  the  attractions  of  sin  had  prevailed  over 
the  terrors  of  the  judgment  to  come.  The  holy 
man  heard  her  with  horror,  and  then,  lifting  up 
his  eyes  to  God,  and  full  of  the  most  compas¬ 
sionate  zeal,  spoke  to  the  miserable  woman  of  the 
terrible  judgment  of  God  upon  sinners,  and  of  the 
inevitable  penalties  which  awaited  her.  She  was 
moved  at  last,  and  bursting  into  tears  of  true 
contrition,  fell  upon  her  knees  and  cried  to  God 
for  pardon.  He  then  sent  her  away  as  quickly  as 
he  could,  reserving  for  another  time,  and  a  more 
fitting  place,  her  perfect  reconciliation  with  God. 

In  March  1574,  St.  Teresa  took  the  saint  with 
her  from  Avila  to  Segovia,  where  she  founded  her 
ninth  monastery  of  nuns.  The  foundation  was 
made  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Joseph,  and  the  first 
Mass  was  said  by  St.  John  of  the  Cross.  For 
this  the  vicar-general  threatened  to  put  him  in 
prison  ;  but  he  did  not  execute  his  threat,  and  the 
saint  returned  in  safety  to  Avila. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


The  friars  of  the  mitigation — Fra  Jerome  Tostado — Chapter 
of  the  mitigation — Decrees  against  the  reform — Fra 
Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God — Chapter  of  Almodovar 
— Death  of  the  Nuncio — Troubles  in  the  monastery  of  the 
Incarnation — St.  John  of  the  Cross  made  a  prisoner. 

While  St.  John  of  the  Cross  was  living  in  Avila, 
and  before  the  priorate  of  St.  Teresa  in  the  monas¬ 
tery  of  the  Incarnation  had  come  to  an  end,  the 
friars  of  the  mitigation  struck  their  first  blow  at 
the  reform.  They  had  been  under  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  visitors  apostolic  since  the  year  1570,  the 
two  Dominican  friars  who  ruled  them  as  visitors 
being  friendly  to  the  reform,  and,  as  the  friars 
believed,  unfriendly  to  them.  It  was  necessary, 
therefore,  if  they  were  to  do  anything  in  their 
own  defence,  to  be  delivered  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  visitors,  and  be  placed  again  under  their  own 
General.  Accordingly  they  represented  their  con¬ 
dition  to  his  Holiness,  and  obtained  from  him, 
August  3,  1574,  a  brief  cancelling  the  faculties 
of  the  visitors.  They  were  in  no  hurry,  however, 
to  hasten  the  fight,  and  waited  patiently  till 
Pentecost  1575,  when  the  general  chapter  of  the 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


81 


order  assembled  in  Piacenza,  in  the  Duchy  of 
Parma. 

In  that  memorable  chapter  the  fathers  of  the 
01  dei  decieed  the  suppression  of  all  the  monas- 
teiies  of  fiiars  in  Spain  which  had  been  founded 
without  the  sanction  of  the  General,  and  every 
one  who  should  resist  this  decree  was  to  be  re¬ 
garded  as  a  rebel,  and  to  suffer  the  penalties  of 
his  rebellion. 

Now  as  the  General’s  sanction  was  really 
confined  to  the  house  of  Duruelo,  removed  to 
Manzeia,  and  that  of  Pastrana,  the  decree  closed 
six  or  seven  houses,  and  destroyed  the  reform 
throughout  Andalucia,  whither  it  had  been  lately 
carried.  Fra  Jerome  Tostado;  a  Portuguese,  an 
able,  shrewd,  and  courageous  friar,  was  appointed 
visitoi  of  Spain,  and  charged  with  the  execution 
of  this  decree  by  the  general  chapter. 

His  instructions  were  given  him,  and  he  set 
out  for  Spain.  Conscious  of  his  strength,  he 
made  no  haste,  but  came  slowly  and  with  de¬ 
liberation  to  do  his  work.  But  the  friars  of  the 
reform  knew  the  danger  they  were  in,  and  made 
their  preparations  for  the  coming  fight.  The 
powers  of  the  Nuncio  were  not  touched,  and  to 
him  they  applied,  for  he  had  always  been  their 
friend.  He  having  first  consulted  the  Holy  See, 
and  having  ascertained  that  his  hands  were  not 
tied,  made  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God 
visitor  of  Andalucia,  and  superior  also  of  the  friars 
and  nuns  of  the  reform  of  St.  Teresa.  That  was 


G 


82  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

done  August  3, 1575,  within  three  months  of  the  as¬ 
sembling  of  the  chapter  in  Piacenza.  By  this  act 
of  the  Nuncio  the  reform  was  secured,  and  the  vicar 
of  the  General,  Fra  Jerome  Tostado,  was  ousted  of 
his  jurisdiction  before  he  set  his  foot  on  the  soil 
of  Spain.  The  friars  of  the  mitigation  were  not 
frightened,  and  the  first  blow  was  struck  in  Novem¬ 
ber  of  this  year,  1575,  by  the  Provincial  of  Castille, 
Fra  Angel  de  Salazar,  who  sent  the  Friar  Miguel 
de  Ulloa  to  Seville,  with  instructions  to  stop  all 
farther  foundations  of  the  reform,  and  to  tell  St. 
Teresa  that  she  was  to  confine  herself— such  were 
the  orders  of  the  chapter— to  any  one  of  her  own 
monasteries  at  her  choice.  In  a  word,  she  was  to 
he  a  prisoner  for  the  present.  Then,  either  at  the 
end  of  the  year  or  early  in  1576,  the  prior  of  the 
Carmelites  in  Avila,  Father  Yaldemoro,  removed 
from  the  monastery  of  the  Incarnation  St.  John 
of  the  Cross  and  Fra  German  of  St.  Mathias,,  to 
the  ‘  exceeding  great  scandal  of  the  city,  writes 
St.  Teresa.  The  Nuncio  was  appealed  to,  and  he 
ordered  them  to  he  brought  hack,  forbidding  at  the 
same  time  the  friars  of  the  mitigation  to  hear  the 
confessions  of  the  nuns,  or  even  to  say  Mass  m 
that  monastery.* 

In  March  1576,  Fra  Jerome  Tostado  was  m 
Barcelona,  and  on  May  12th  a  chapter  of  the  old 
observance  was  held  in  Moraleja,  to  which  the 

*  Lett.  71,  without  date,  hut  written  from  Seville  in 
the  beginning  of  1576  ;  and  Lett.  170,  to  Don  Philip  II., 

Dec.  4,  1577. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  83 

priors  of  Manzera  and  Pastrana,  with  the  rector  of 
Alcala,  all  of  the  reform,  were  summoned.  These 
houses  were  recognised  because  founded  with  the 
consent  of  the  General;  but  the  priors  of  six 
houses  were  not  summoned,  because  they  wrere 
regarded  as  rebels  and  strangers  to  the  order, 
living  in  houses  which  the  General  had  never 
sanctioned. 

The  prior  of  Pastrana  and  the  rector  of  Alcala 
suspected  some  mischief,  and  therefore  before  going 
to  the  chapter  consulted  the  Nuncio  of  his  Holi¬ 
ness  in  Madrid,  to  wThom  they  made  known  their 
suspicions,  and  showed  the  letters  by  which  they 
had  been  summoned.  The  Nuncio  advised  them 
to  attend  the  chapter,  but  to  give  their  consent  to 
nothing  that  might  be  decreed  against  the  reform, 
or  against  the  person  of  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother 
of  God,  whom  he  had  made  superior  of  the  bare¬ 
footed  friars,  and  visitor  of  the  province  of  Anda- 
lueia. 

The  friars  of  the  old  observance  decreed,  in 
spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  the  three  friars  of 
the  reform,  that  there  should  be  in  future  no 
difference  in  the  habits  worn  in  the  order;  that 
the  barefooted  friars  should  wrear  shoes,  cease  to 
be  called  barefooted,  and  be  known  as  contempla- 
tives ;  that  the  friars  of  the  old  observance  and  of 
the  reform  should  dwell  as  brethren  in  the  same 
house,  each  following  his  own  rule,  but  living 
together,  as  if  there  were  nothing  to  distinguish 
them  one  from  the  other;  and  that  none  of  the 


.  84  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 

houses  of  the  order  should  he  regarded  as  shut 
against  the  observants  on  the  one  hand,  or  against 
the  contemplatives  on  the  other. 

The  intention  of  the  friars  was  plain  enough : 
they  hoped,  by  compelling  all  to  dwell  together  as 
if  there  were  no  difference  between  them,  to  biing 
the  more  earnest  friars,  by  the  contagion  of  ex¬ 
ample,  back  again  to  the  more  easy  life  of  the 
mitigated  rule. 

The  friars  of  the  reform  were  not  bound  to  give 
way,  for  they  had  their  own  Superior  given  them 
by  the  Nuncio  of  his  Holiness,  and  accordingly 
they  made  preparations  to  defend  themselves. 
Their  Superior,  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God, 
summoned  the  priors  of  the  reform  to  Almodovar 
del  Campo,  where  they  met  Sept.  8,  1576,  and 
with  them  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  who  was  still 
the  confessor  of  the  nuns  of  the  Incarnation.  They 
elected  a  council  to  assist  the  provincial— so  was 
Fra  Jerome  called  by  the  Nuncio— and  of  that 
council,  the  first  chosen  was  Fra  Antonio  of  Jesus. 
They  also  resolved  to  send  two  of  the  fathers  to 
Home,  to  defend  them  against  the  charges  which 
the  friars  of  the  mitigation  brought  against  them. 
But  the  state  of  the  order  was  so  full  of  peril  at 
this  time  that  the  two  fathers  could  not  be  spared, 

and  so  they  never  went. 

In  the  same  assembly  a  question  was  raised 
about  the  rule  and  the  constitutions.  Fra  Antonio 
and  St.  John  of  the  Cross  had  agreed  in  Duruelo 
upon  certain  things,  and  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 


85 


of  Gcd,  as  provincial  and  visitor  appointed  by  tlie 
Nuncio,  had  made  certain  decrees  for  the  good 
government  of  the  order.  The  chief  friars,  meet¬ 
ing  together  in  chapter  for  the  first  time,  could 
not  refrain  from  discussing  the  end  of  the  reform, 
and  the  means  by  which  that  end  was  to  be 
reached. 

Now,  according  to  the  letters  of  the  General 
received  by  St.  Teresa,  and  in  virtue  of  which  she 
founded  the  house  in  Duruelo,  which  was  the  birth¬ 
place  of  the  order,  the  friars  of  the  reform  were  to 
be  contemplative s,  and  their  active  work  was  to  be 
subordinate  to  the  higher  work  unto  which  God 
had  called  them.  They  were  to  be  like  the  nuns, 
so  far  as  that  was  possible — men  of  retirement  and 
prayer. 

Fra  Jerome  was  of  another  mind,  and  in  this 
assembly  of  Almodovar  spoke  at  some  length  to 
the  fathers,  insisting  on  the  fact  that  the  order 
was  mendicant :  he  persuaded  his  brethren  that 
they  were  as  much  bound  to  succour  their  neigh¬ 
bours  as  they  were  bound  to  their  cells  and  to 
prayer.  Most  of  the  friars  who  had  formerly  pro¬ 
fessed  the  mitigated  rule  were  easily  convinced, 
and  Fra  Antonio  himself  agreeing  with  him,  the 
assembly  was  almost  of  one  mind. 

But  St.  John  of  the  Cross  understood  the  re¬ 
form  in  another  sense,  and  rose  up  amidst  his 
brethren  to  combat  the  opinions  which  most  of 
them  adopted.  He  admitted  the  fact  that  they 
were  mendicants,  and  that  they  owed,  therefore,  a 


83 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


debt  to  their  neighbour ;  they  were  bound  to  share 
with  him  what  God  gave  to  them  in  prayer.  But 
charity  must  be  in  order  ;  the  first  duty  of  the  friars  _  i 
was  to  keep  the  rule,  by  which  they  are  required 
to  abide  in  their  cells,  meditating  night  and  day 
in  the  law  of  God,  unless  reasonably  hindered. 

As  for  preaching  out  of  the  monasteries  and  hear¬ 
ing  confessions,  there  were  orders  in  holy  Church 
to  whom  these  good  works  specially  belonged,  and 
he  begged  his  brethren  not  to  undo  the  work  so 
happily  begun  by  sanctioning  practices  which 
made  silence  and  prayer  so  difficult.  He  could  not 
prevail  against  the  provincial  and  Fra  Antonio  ; 
the  latter  wTas  an  old  man,  and  greatly  respected 
by  his  brethren. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  Fra  Jerome’s 
troubles,  and  the  beginning  also  of  great  troubles 
in  the  whole  order.  The  chapter  decreed  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  propositions  of  the  provincial,  and  then 
dissolved ;  St.  John  of  the  Cross  returning  to  the 
monastery  of  the  Incarnation  in  Avila. 

In  the  next 'year  1577,  in  the  month  of  June, 
the  Nuncio  of  his  Holiness,  Monsignore  Ormaneto, 
died,  to  the  great  grief  of  the  friars  of  the  reform, 
for  he  had  been  faithful  and  constant  in  their 
defence.  His  successor,  Monsignore  Sega,  who 
arrived  in  August,  was  known  to  be  unfriendly  to 
them,  believing  them  to  be  rebellious  friars  who 
were  bringing  in  novelties  to  the  ruin  of  the  order. 

He  had  unfortunately  given  credit  to  men  inter¬ 
ested  or  deceived,  and  had  conceived  an  evil  opinion 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


87 


of  St.  Teresa  herself ;  he  thought  she  was  nothing 
else  but  a  restless  and  dissatisfied  nun,  who  could 
not  he  quiet  in  her  monastery.  At  the  same  time 
two  friars  of  the  reform,  Miguel  de  la  Columna, 
and  the  zealous  friar  who  had  done  so  much  in 
the  order,  Fra  Baltasar  of  Jesus,  were  won  over 
by  the  friars  of  the  mitigation,  and  were  weak 
enough  to  bring  hateful  charges  against  St.  Teresa 
and  their  Superior,  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of 
God.  Fra  Miguel  soon  repented,  and  withdrew 
the  charges;  and  before  witnesses,  in  the  presence 
of  a  notary,  Sept.  4,  1577,  in  Pastrana,  declared 
that  he  had  even  signed  the  papers  in  which  they 
were  recorded  without  first  reading  them.  Fra 
Baltasar  also,  in  a  letter  to  Fra  Jerome,  expressed 
-  his  sorrow  for  what  he  had  done,  confessing  that 
he  had  been  carried  away  by  passion,  and  begged 
for  forgiveness.  He  was  forgiven  and  readmitted, 
without  either  active  or  passive  voice,  by  the  de- 
finitors  in  the  chapter  held  in  Valladolid,  in  April 
1587,  when  Fra  Nicolas  of  Jesus  Maria  was  pro¬ 
vincial.  But  the  order  never  trusted  him  again, 
and  never  raised  him  to  any  dignity  in  it.  His 
after  life  -was  most  edifying,  however,  and  full  of 
consolation  to  his  brethren.  He  died  in  the  house 
in  Lisbon,  in  the  year  1589.* 

The  Nuncio  no  doubt  believed  there  ivas  some 
truth  at  least  in  these  miserable  accusations,  and 
his  anger  was  not  lessened  when  the  4  restless 

*  Reforma ,  j.  p.  648,  ii.  p.  352.  Letters  of  St.  Teresa, 
Lett.  165  and  166,  written  in  October  1577. 


88 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  TIIE  CROSS. 


woman,’  as  tie  once  called  St.  Teresa,  was  elected 
prioress  of  the  Incarnation  in  October,  by  fifty-five 
nuns  against  forty-four  w7ho  were  in  favour  of 
Dona  Ana  of  Toledo,  one  of  the  nuns  in  the  house. 
The  fifty  nuns  regarded  as  rebellious  were  by  the 
provincial  excommunicated,  and  wTere  refused  leave 
to  enter  the  choir  even  when  nobody  wras  there ; 
all  communications  with  their  friends  and  relatives 
were  interdicted,  and  they  were  not  allowed  to  hear 
Mass.* 

The  nuns  submitted  at  last  to  the  prioress 
elected  by  the  minority  and  confirmed  by  the  vicar 
of  the  General,  Fra  Jerome  Tostado,  who,  to  his 
credit,  in  spite  of  the  king’s  opposition,  persisted 
in  fulfilling  his  duty.  Fra  Jerome  Tostado  then 
sent  the  prior  of  Toledo,  Fra  Fernando  Maldonado, 
to  absolve  the  nuns  and  to  make  peace  in  the  mon¬ 
astery.  That  prior  had  other  instructions  also, 
which  he  faithfully  obeyed.  He  wras,  if  possible,  to 
detach  St.  John  of  the  Cross  from  the  reform,  and 
failing  that,  to  put  him  in  prison  as  a  disobedient 
friar.  Father  Maldonado’s  instructions  could  not 
be  kept  secret,  and  the  friars  elected  St.  John 
prior  of  Manzera,  to  save  him  from  the  risk  he 
was  running  at  the  Incarnation.  He,  too,  knew 
his  danger  and  the  troubles  before  him,  for  one 
day  he  said  to  Dona  Ana  Maria,  a  holy  nun  of  the 
Incarnation,  that  he  should  be  taken  and  made  to 
suffer  much ;  to  wliich  she  replied,  not  believing 

*  Letters  of  St.  Teresa ,  Lett.  166,  October  1577,  to  the 
prioress  of  Seville. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


89 


him,  that  his  sufferings  could  not  be  long,  because 
he  was  not  strong  enough  to  bear  any.  He  was 
stronger  than  she  thought  he  was,  for  he  outlived 
the  cruel  treatment  of  his  imprisonment. 

Father  Fernando  Maldonado  began  by  tempt¬ 
ing  the  saint  to  return  to  the  old  observance,  which 
he  had  abandoned  nine  years  before.  He  repre¬ 
sented  to  him  that  the  reform  was  a  scandal  in 
itself,  a  slur  on  the  good  name  of  the  order,  a  life 
full  of  spiritual  dangers,  because  it  was  so  new. 
St.  John  could  not  be  moved,  so  Fra  Fernando 
made  up  his  mind  to  use  force,  and  take  him  with 
him  to  prison  in  Toledo,  where  he  was  prior. 

Somehow  or  other  his  resolution  to  use  violence 
became  known,  and  some  of  the  chief  men  in 
Avila,  with  certain  relatives  of  the  nuns,  kept 
watch  around  the  poor  cottage  of  the  two  friars. 
Father  Maldonado  remained  quiet,  and  by  degrees 
the  watch  was  discontinued.  Thereupon  the  friar, 
on  the  night  of  Dec.  8,  went  with  a  band  of  armed 
men  to  the  cottage,  though  the  two  friars  neither 
did  nor  wished  to  offer  any  resistance ;  once  in  his 
power,  they  were  gagged  and  bound.  Having  se¬ 
cured  his  prey,  Father  Maldonado  took  them  to  the 
monastery  of  the  friars  for  the  night ;  but  before 
shutting  them  up  in  their  cells,  he  had  them 
severely  disciplined,  as  rebel  children  of  their 
Mother.* 

The  next  morning  the  prior  sent  for  St.  John 

*  Letters  of  St.  Teresa ,  Lett.  173,  Dec.  10, 1577,  to  the 
prioress  of  Seville. 


90 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


of  the  Cross,  intending  to  obtain  some  information 
from  him.  The  saint  left  his  cell,  which  was  also 
his  prison,  guarded  by  his  gaolers,  and  was  led 
into  the  place  where  the  prior  was  making  his 
thanksgiving  after  Mass.  There  he  was  left ;  and 
he,  seeing  the  door  open,  went  out  of  the  house  to 
secure  certain  papers  left  behind  in  the  little  cot¬ 
tage,  and  which  seem  to  have  escaped  the  search 
of  Father  Maldonado.  His  absence  was  at  last 
observed,  and  some  of  the  friars  followed  him  in 
all  haste ;  hut  he  was  in  the  house,  and,  having 
locked  the  door,  had  time  to  destroy  the  papers. 

He  was  now  to  he  taken  to  Toledo,  but  Fra 
German  of  St.  Mathias  was  to  he  sent  to  Moraleja.* 
In  order  to  depart  the  more  easily  out  of  Avila,  Fa¬ 
ther  Maldonado  made  the  saint  change  his  habit 
and  cover  his  feet,  as  if  he  were  a  friar  of  the  old 
observance.  But  when  the  disguise  was  effected, 
St.  John  simply  observed  that  he  was  still  a  friar 
of  the  reform.  The  religious  to  whom  he  was 
committed  hated  the  reform,  and  to  show  his 
hatred,  treated  his  prisoner  harshly  on  the  road. 
His  companion,  however,  who  was  a  secular, 
was  more  compassionate,  and  determined  to  help 
St.  John  to  escape.  He  found  an  opportunity  of 

*  St.  Teresa,  writing  to  Mary  of  St.  Joseph,  prioress  of 
Seville,  Deo.  10,  Lett.  173,  says  :  ‘  The  prior  of  Avila  has 
taken  Fra  German  to  St.  Paul's  in  Moraleja,  and  when  he 
came  hack  he  told  the  nuns  who  are  of  his  party,  that  he 
had  put  that  traitor  in  a  place  of  safety :  they  say  that 
on  the  road  blood  flowed  from  his  mouth.’ 


91 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

making  liis  resolution  known  to  the  prisoner  but 
the  only  answer  he  got  was  that  the  friar  1  no 
treat  him  half  so  harshly  as  he  deserved ;  he 
hoped,  therefore,  that  he  would  not  trouble  him¬ 
self  farther  about  him.  . 

But  the  layman  was  not  so  easily  deceive  . 

When  they  came  to  the  inn  where  they  were  to 
lodge  that  night,  ho  went  to  the  host,  and, 
having  told  him  what  he  had  observed,  said  that 
he  believed  the  prisoner  to  be  a  great  saint,  an 
that  he  wished  to  set  him  free.  The  innkeeper 
entered  into  the  plan,  and  told  St.  John  of  t  e 
Cross  that  means  of  escape  would  be  found  for  him 
during  the  night.  It  was  all  in  vain ;  the  holy 
man  told  him,  as  he  had  told  the  other,  that  he 
had  no  wish  to  eseape-he  was  a  willing  prisoner 

in  the  hands  of  his  gaoler. 

The  prisoner  arrived  in  Toledo,  calm  an 
joyous  of  heart,  for  he  was  reaping  the  ruito 
many  prayers.  His  judges  were  waiting  for  him 
in  the  monastery  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  old  ob¬ 
servance.  In  the  morning  of  that  day  St.  Teiesa 
heard  of  the  seizure,  but  she  could  not  hear  any¬ 
thing  of  the  destination  of  the  prisoner.  In  her 
distress,  she  wrote  to  the  king,  Hon  P  n  ip  •» 
hewing  for  help.  ‘  I  would  rather,  she  said,  he 
wore  in  the  hands  of  the  Moors,  for  they  perhaps 
would  be  more  merciful;  and  this  Mar,  who is  so 
great  a  servant  of  God,  is  so  enfeebled  by  his 
great  sufferings  that  I  fear  for  his  life. 

*  Lett.  170,  Dec.  4,  1577. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Trial— Imprisonment— Hardships  of  the  prison— Adonde 

Te  escondiste — Light  in  the  cell — Vision  of  our  Lady — 

Preparations  for  escape. 

The  next  day  lie  appeared  before  his  judges,  friars 
of  the  old  observance,  empowered  by  the  vicar  of 
the  order  in  Spain  to  try  him.  The  acts  of  the 
general  chapter  held  in  Piacenza  were  produced, 
and  he  was  then  pressed  to  return  to  the  observ¬ 
ance  which  he  had  quitted  nine  years  before.  His 
judges  promised  not  only  to  forgive  and  forget  the 
past,  but  also  to  treat  him  with  great  honour,  and 
raise  him  to  the  high  offices  of  the  order.  If  he 
refused  to  submit,  he  would  be  regarded  as  a  rebel¬ 
lious  friar,  and  subjected  to  the  penalties  with 
which  all  religious  orders  visit  their  contumacious 
children. 

The  man  of  God  heard  them  in  all  patience, 
and  with  great  humility  replied  that  it  was  im¬ 
possible  for  him  to  do  what  they  required  of  him. 
The  reform  to  which  he  belonged  was  lawfully 
established,  with  the  consent  of  the  General,  by  the 
visitors  apostolic  and  the  Nuncio  of  his  Holiness ; 
he  was  bound,  therefore,  to  persevere  under  obe- 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


93 


dience  to  an  authority  higher  than  theirs :  the 
authority  of  the  Pope  is  greater  than  that  of  die 
general  chapter.  He  admitted  that  he  was  m 
their  power,  and  that  they  could  punish  him ;  he 
was  ready  and  willing  to  bear  his  burden,  but  he 
was  not  legally  subject  to  their  jurisdiction  His 
superior  was  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God 
The  friars  of  the  mitigation  were  within  tneir 
own  right,  so  they  thought ;  honestly  believing, 
at  the  same  time,  that  they  were  justified  m  im¬ 
prisoning  St.  John  of  the  Cross  under  the  autho¬ 
rity  of  the  General.  The  new  Nuncio  favoured 
them,  and  wished  to  crush  the  reform  as  much  as 
they  did.  Their  duty  was  to  execute  the  decrees 
of  the  general  chapter,  binding  upon  them  as  true 
children  of  the  order ;  and  they  did  not  recognise 
the  acts  of  the  late  nuncio.  The  saint  could  no 
submit  to  their  conditions  ;  so  they  ordered  him  to 
be  imprisoned  in  the  monastery,  severely  scourged, 
and  fed  on  bread  and  water.  They  regarded  1m 
as  a  headstrong  friar  who  followed  his  own  wi  , 
and  who  heeded  not  the  authority  of  the  order. 
They  had  him  in  their  power  now,  and  they  ha 
the  right  to  chastise  him  for  his  disobedience. 

The  servant  of  God  was  helpless,  but  he  never 
made  the  slightest  complaint,  and  submitted 
humbly  to  the  sentence  pronounced  by  men  who 
were  not  really  invested  with  any  jurisdiction  over 
him.  He  neither  disputed  their  authority  nor 
begged  for  their  .forgiveness,  but  yielded  himseli 
passively  to  suffer  whatever  they  might  lay  upon 


94 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


liim ;  lie  had  prayed  for  sufferings,  and  his  prayer, 
to  his  great  joy,  was  heard  at  last. 

His  prison,  visited  devoutly  afterwards  by  one 
of  his  biographers,  Fra  Joseph  of  Jesus  Maria,  was 
a  small  closet,  not  quite  six  feet  wide,  and  less 
than  ten  feet  in  length,  at  the  end  of  a  room  in 
which  guests  of  distinction  were  usually  lodged. 
It  was  close  and  dark,  for  it  had  no  window ;  and 
the  scanty  light  it  had  came  through  a  loophole, 
not  three  inches  wide,  in  the  wall  near  the  roof — 
and  that  was,  moreover,  a  borrowed'  light.  To 
read  his  Breviary,  the  prisoner  must  stand  on  a 
bench  and  hold  his  book  under  the  light,  and  that 
light  could  be  had  only  for  a  short  time  during  the 
day,  when  the  sun  shone  in  the  corridor  of  the 
house. 

The  door  of  this  closet  was  padlocked,  and  he 
could  never  leave  it  without  the  gaoler’s  permis¬ 
sion.  Afterwards,  when  the  friars  heard  of  the 
escape  of  his  fellow-prisoner,  German  of  St. 
Mathias,*  from  the  monastery  in  Moraleja,  the 
door  of  the  room  to  which  the  closet  belonged  was 
also  locked.  They  were  determined  to  keep  him 

*  Fra  German  was  born  in  Logrona  in  Pdojas ;  made 
his  profession  in  Pastrana,  Feb.  25,  1573.  He  was  elected 
prior  of  Manzera,  June  10,  1579,  and  died  in  the  course  of 
the  year  in  the  odour  of  sanctity.  Pedro  de  las  Cuevas,  a 
priest,  was  with  St.  Teresa  in  Avila  one  day,  when  the  saint 
burst  into  tears,  and  being  asked  the  reason,  said,  ‘  The 
prior  of  Manzera  is  dead.’  Don  Pedro  found  afterwards 
that  he  had  died  that  very  day.  Notes  of  Fra  Antonio  on 
Lett.  77,  vol.  iii.  o:  the  Letters  oj  St.  Teresa. 


95 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

safely,  for  they  looked  on  him  — as  in  truth  he 
was— the  chief  pillar  of  the  reform  which  they 

hated.  '  _ 

During  the  day  no  one  hut  the  friar  who  was 

his  gaoler  was  allowed  to  speak  to  him,  or  even  to 
see  him.  In  the  evening  he  was  led  to  the  re¬ 
fectory  at  the  time  of  collation,  and  there,  on  the 
floor,  he  had  to  take  his  food,  which  was  generally 
bread  and  water.  Occasionally  they  gave  him  a 
little  fish,  if  any  could  be  spared  from  the  meal  of 
the  community ;  they  even  gave  him  salt-fish,  and 
refused  him  water.  When  the  meal  was  over,  the 
prior  rebuked  him  severely,  speaking  to  him  as  to 
one  who  had  committed  scandalous  sins,  upbraid¬ 
ing  him  as  a  reformer  of  others  when  he  needed 
reformation  himself,  and  calling  the  attention  of 
his  brethren  to  him  as  to  one  who  had  set  himself 
up  to  teach  them  before  he  had  been  taught  him¬ 
self— he  who  was,  in  reality,  but  the  lowest  and  the 

least  in  the  order. 

When  the  prior  ceased  to  speak,  the  saint 
bared  his  shoulders  to  receive  the  public  disci- 
pline  inflicted  on  friars  guilty  of  grave  offences. 
It  is  the  heaviest  penance  which  religious  inflict, 
and  is  also  the  most  keenly  felt,  for  it  is  the 
reward  of  disgraceful  deeds.  St.  John  of  t  e 
Cross,  walking  in  the  footsteps  of  his  Master, 
bowed  his  head,  and  submitted  to  the  _  terrible 
scourging,  which  was  so  unsparingly  administered 
that  his  shoulders  bore  the  marks  of  it  for  the  rest 
of  his  days.  He  received  it  all  as  from  the  hands 


96 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


of  God,  who  had  a  right  to  scourge  him,  and 
neither  then  nor  afterwards  did  he  ever  complain 
of  the  friars,  always  making  excuses  for  them 
whenever  his  imprisonment  was  spoken  of.  At 
all  times,  even  among  his  own  brethren  of  the 
reform  who  knew  the  whole  story,  he  wTould  never 
allow  any  one  to  blame  the  friars  of  Toledo.  At 
first  they  led  him  to  the  refectory  every  night, 
hut  they  grew  weary  at  last  of  that  cruel  scourging 
before  he  did.  This  was  to  him  another  grief  ; 
he  complained  to  his  gaoler,  and  asked  him  why 
he  was  forgotten  and  deprived  of  his  only  consola¬ 
tion.  He  longed  for  the  evening,  that  he  might 
he  led  to  the  torture ;  but  his  tormentors,  grown 
weary,  sent  for  him  only  thrice  in  the  wreek  for  a 
time,  and  then  only  on  Fridays.  Later  on,  they 
spared  him  even  the  Fridays,  and  left  him  for 
weeks  unmolested  in  his  cell :  perhaps  they  wrere 
thinking,  in  spite  of  themselves,  of  the  lamb  be¬ 
fore  his  shearers,  dumb. 

He  was  kept  in  prison  more  than  eight  months, 
and  was  never  allowed  to  change  his  clothes.  He 
had  to  wear  the  habit  of  the  mitigation  given  him 
in  Avila  when  he  was  made  prisoner,  which  was  a 
perpetual  penance  to  him,  and  his  woollen  tunic 
underneath  must  have  been  saturated  with  blood, 
and  soiled ;  hut  the  friars  were  blind  to  the  cruelty 
of  their  conduct.  As  he  came  into  his  prison,  so 
he  went  out,  in  the  very  same  garments,  never 
changed ;  and  he  was  become  a  burden,  horrible 
even  to  himself.  To  add  to  his  sorrows,  the  friars 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


97 


of  the  observance  would  meet  together  in  the  room 
to  which  his  cell  belonged,  and  there  discuss  the 
affairs  of  the  reform.  They  were  careful  to  say 
nothing  that  was  not  true,  hut  all  they  had  to  say 
was  meant  to  vex  their  prisoner.  They  spoke  of 
the  resolution  of  the  Nuncio,  Monsignore  Sega,  to 
quash  the  reform,  and  detailed  the  strange  charges 
brought  against  St.  Teresa  by  two  friars  who  for  a 
time  had  fallen  away,  and  who  were  supposed  to 
know  the  secrets  of  the  reform,  as  if  those  charges 
had  never  been  retracted,  or  as  if  they  believed 
them  to  be  true.  All  this  was  gall  and  wormwood, 
for  he  knew  nothing  of  the  state  of  his  brethren  ; 
he  bewailed  his  own  sins  and  imperfections,  which 
he,  in  his  humility,  considered  as  the  cause  of  the 
great  ruin  which  had  been  wrought  in  Carmel.  It 
was  impossible  for  him  to  communicate  with  any¬ 
body,  nor  could  anybody  communicate  with  him. 
He  was  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world ;  and 
they  were  the  sons  of  his  mother  who  fought 
‘v  against  him. 

\  It  was  with  difficulty  he  could  say  his  office, 
and  he  was  not  allowed  to  say  Mass.  The  reform 
in  the  order,  which  he  had  accepted  at  the  hands 
of  St.  Teresa,  had  brought  him  to  utter  misery; 
if  he  had  gone  to  the  Carthusians,  as  he  had 
purposed,  he  could  have  served  God  in  peace  and 
quietness.  He  was  now  among  the  dead;  his 
brethren  could  not  deliver  him — none  of  them  even 
knew  where  he  was.  God  had  thrown  him  into  the 
crucible  to  burn  away  the  dross,  to  purify  the 

H 


98 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


spirit,  and  bring  it  home  to  Himself.  But  amid 
all  bis  trials,  and  in  tbe  depths  of  his  sufferings, 
his  patience  never  failed  him,  and  it  was  in  that 
prison  he  composed  the  wonderful  hymn  jLclondc 
Te  escondiste,  which  he  afterwards  so  wonderfully 
explained. 

The  bodily  sufferings  of  that  prison  may  be, 
perhaps,  understood ;  but  the  spiritual  sufferings 
by  which  his  soul  was  raised  so  high  are  unutter¬ 
able.  He  was  drawn  in  beneath  the  deep  waters, 
and  hidden  from  the  eyes  of  men  bodily  and  spi¬ 
ritually,  so  that  none  could  comfort  him.  The 
rigours  of  his  prison  were  redoubled  in  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  March  1578,  when  the  friars  heard  of  the 
escape  of  Fra  German  of  St.  Mathias,  who  was 
made  a  prisoner  with  him  in  December  before  in 
Avila.  Soon  the  hot  weather  made  his  close  cell 
more  intolerable  still,  and  he  was  now  become  a 
burden  to  himself,  because  he  was  not  allowed  a 
change  of  raiment.  Nobody  had  compassion  upon 
him,  and  his  gaoler  was  unmoved  by  his  miseiable 
condition.  It  was  rumoured  too  that  Fra  Jerome 
Tostado  h^d  sent  him  to  Borne,  and  St.  Teresa 
seems  to  have  believed  it.*  The  story  may  have 
caused  his  friends  to  cease  from  searching  for  him ; 
and  while  he  was  in  his  prison  they  were  never  able 
to  discover  the  place  where  he  had  been  hidden. 

But  God  did  not  forsake  His  servant;  his 
enemies  had  chased  him,  and  caught  him  like  a 
bird,  without  cause,  and  hidden  him  from  all  his 
*  Lett.  183,  March  9th,  1578. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


99 


acquaintance  in  a  close  and  stifling  cell,  which,  in 
the  heat  of  summer,  had  become  a  furnace.  His 
gaoler,  obedient  to  the  order  of  his  superiors, 
refused  him  any  relief;  and  even  at  night  the 
darkness  was  hardly  greater  than  it  was  during 
the  day.  Now  and  then  the  saint  made  his  moan 
unto  God,  but  without  complaining,  and  his  cell 
became  filled  with  light  seen  by  the  bodily  eye. 
One  night  the  friar  who  kept  him  went  as  usual 
to  see  that  his  prisoner  was  safe,  and  witnessed 
the  heavenly  light  with  which  the  cell  was  flooded. 
He  did  not  stop  to  consider  it,  but  hurried  to  the 
prior,  thinking  that  some  one  in  the  house  had 
keys  to  open  the  doors  of  the  prison.  The  prior, 
with  two  religious,  went  at  once  to  the  prison,  but 
on  his  entering  the  room  through  which  the  prison 
was  approached,  the  light  vanished.  The  prior, 
however,  entered  the  cell,  and,  finding  it  dark, 
opened  the  lantern  with  which  he  had  provided 
himself,  and  asked  the  prisoner  who  had  given  him 
light.  St.  John  answered  him,  and  said  that  no 
one  in  the  house  had  done  so,  that  no  one  could 
do  it,  and  that  there  was  neither  candle  nor  lamp 
in  the  cell.  The  prior  made  no  reply,  and  went 
away,  thinking  that  the  gaoler  had  made  a  mistake. 

St.  John,  at  a  later  time,  told  one  of  his  bre¬ 
thren  that  the  heavenly  light,  which  God  so  merci¬ 
fully  sent  him,  lasted  the  night  through,  and  that 
it  filled  his  soul  with  joy,  and  made  the  night  pass 
away  as  if  it  were  but  a  moment.  Wheh  his  im¬ 
prisonment  was  drawing  to  its  close,  he  heard  our 


'100  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

Lord  say  to  him,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  soft  light 
that  was  around  him,  (  J ohn,  I  am  here ;  he  not 

afraid ;  I  will  set  thee  free.’ 

On  the  eye  of  the  Assumption  of  our  Lady, 
1578,  when  he  had  been  eight  months  in  prison, 
the  prior  came  suddenly  in  with  two  of  the  friars, 
and  found  the  saint  on  his  knees  in  prayer.  He 
was  now  so  worn  by  his  sufferings  and  so  weak,  as 
to  he  unable  to  rise  when  the  prior  entered.  In¬ 
deed,  he  made  no  effort  to  do  so,  hut  continued  his 
prayer,  for  he  thought  it  was  only  his  gaoler.  The 
prior  touched  him  rudely,  and  asked  him  why  he 
had  not  stood  up  to  receive  him  as  subjects  receive 
their  superiors  when  visited  by  them.  The  prior 
honestly  believed  that  his  not  rising  up  was  an  act 
of  studied  disrespect,  and  was  greatly  displeased. 
The  servant  of  God  begged  to  be  forgiven  so 
simply  and  so  humbly,  that  the  prior  was  softened 
for  a  moment,  and  asked  him  what  he  was  think¬ 
ing  of.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  made  answer,  ‘  I 
was  thinking  that  to-morrow  is  the  Feast  of  the 
Assumption  of  our  Lady,  and  that  it  would  be  a 
great  joy  to  me  if  I  could  say  Mass.  The  piior 
turned  his  back  upon  him  saying,  ‘  Not  in  my 

time;’  and  went  his  way. 

The  servant  of  our  Lord  was  left  alone  in  his 
sorrow,  but  sorrowing  most  that  the  next  day  he 
was  neither  to  say  nor  hear  Mass.  But  during  the 
night  that  followed  the  day  of  the  Assumption, 
our  Blessed  Lady  herself  came  to  his  cell,  radiant 
in  the  soft  light  of  her  presence,  and  said  to  him, 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


101 


4  My  son,  have  patience,  thy  trials  are  nearly  over ; 
thou  shalt  leave  thy  prison,  say  Mass,  and  be  glad.’ 
His  heart  dilated  with  joy  at  the  words,  and  he 
began  to  consider  how  he  was  to  make  his  escape. 
He  knew  that  his  gaolers  would  not  release  him, 

I  and.  he  could  not  deliver  himself.  In  this  per¬ 
plexity,  but  confident  that  an  escape  was  possible, 
he  continued  for  a  day  or  two,  and  then  our  Lord 
Himself  appeared  to  him  during  the  Octave,  and 
bade  him  be  of  good  cheer,  for  He  who  enabled  the 
Prophet  Eliseus  to  divide  the  waters  of  the  J ordan 
with  the  mantle  of  Elias,  and  cross  the  river, 
would,  without  any  difficulty,  deliver  him  out  of 
prison. 

Hoping  and  believing  that  his  deliverance  was 
nigh,  he  took  heart,  and  waited,  but  he  was  still 
unable  to  understand  how  it  was-  to  be  wrought. 
Then,  in  the  midst  of  his  perplexities,  our  Lady  ap¬ 
peared  to  him,  and  in  a  vision  showed  him  a  win¬ 
dow  of  the  monastery  from  which  the  Tagus  could 
be  seen ;  he  was  to  descend  from  that  window,  and 
she  would  save  him  from  all  danger.  As  he  had 
never  been  in  that  monastery  except  as  a  prisoner, 
he  knew  nothing  of  the  arrangements  of  the  house, 
nor  could  he  find  his  way  to  that  window,  -even  by 
daylight,  still  less  in  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
But  the  matter  had  been  all  prepared  beforehand  : 
the  ordinary  gaoler,  who  had  been  so  harsh,  was 
wanted  for  some  other  work,  and  a  friar  from  Val¬ 
ladolid,  of  a  more  tender  heart,  had  been  now  his 
guardian  for  some  weeks.  This  iriar,  x*ra  John 


102  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

of  St.  Mary,  touched  by  the  patience  and  silence 
and  uncomplainingness  of  his  prisoner,  became 
persuaded  that  he  was  a  great  saint.  He  there¬ 
fore  was  as  kind  to  him  as  he  possibly  could  he, 
and  softened  the  rigours  of  his  prison,  so  far  as 
obedience  to  his  superiors  allowed  him.  When 
the  fathers  were  at  recreation  or  resting  in  the 
heat  of  the  day,  he  would  take  St.  John  out  of 
his  cell  and  allow  him  to  walk  up  and  down  the 
room  to  which  it  belonged.  By  degrees  he  gave 
him  greater  freedom,  and  suffered  him  to  enter 
the  corridor  and  even  to  look  out  of  the  windows. 
Thus  it  was  that  St.  John  discovered  the  window 
showed  him  in  a  vision ;  and  when  he  saw  it  he 
took  special  notice  of  it,  feeling  that  the  hour  of 
his  release  was  come. 

His  gaoler  had  been  very  kind  to  him;  so  now, 
knowing  that  he  was  to  he  parted  from  him,  he 
thanked  him  for  his  kindness,  and  begged  him  to 
forgive  all  the  trouble  lie  had  given  him.  He 
then  asked  him  to  accept  a  crucifix  which  it  seems 
the  friars  had  not  taken  from  him.  The  Cross 
was  made  of  some  rare  wood,  on  which  the  in¬ 
struments  of  the  Passion  were  admirably  figured, 
and  the  image  of  our  Lord  was  of  bronze.  The 
saint  had  worn  it  under  his  scapular,  near  his 
heart,  and  told  his  gaoler  that  he  prized  it  highly 
himself,  not  for  the  workmanship,  hut  because  it 
had  been  given  him  by  a  most  saintly  person,  in 
whose  possession  it  had  been  for  some  time.  He 
did  not  say  that  it  was  the  gift,  as  it  is  believed, 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


103 


of  St.  Teresa  herself  to  him  when  he  was  confessor 
of  the  nuns  of  the  Incarnation,  because  at  that 
time  the  name  of  St.  Teresa  was  hateful  in  the  ears 
of  the  fathers  of  the  mitigation ;  and  this  good 
friar  from  Valladolid  was  probably  under  the  do¬ 
minion  of  the  same  misconception,  notwithstand¬ 
ing  his  great  charity  towards  the  servant  of  God. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


The  escape  — Dangers  — The  saint  takes  refuge  in  the 
Monastery  of  St.  Joseph  — Don  Pedro  Gonzalez  de 
Mendoza. 

When  the  servant  of  God  saw  the  window  which 
had  been  shown  him  in  a  vision,  he  knew  that  the 
time  was  come  in  which  he  was  to  make  his  escape. 
That  very  night,  when  his  gaoler,  after  giving  him 
his  supper,  went  out  of  the  cell  for  some  water,  he 
loosened  the  staple  of  the  padlock  on  his  door ;  the 
gaoler  also,  when  he  took  leave  of  him  for  the  night, 
forgot  to  take  away  the  lamp,  having  seen  nothing 
amiss  with  the  fastening  of  the  room. 

Towards  night  the  provincial,  with  some  re¬ 
ligious,  came  unexpectedly  to  the  monastery,  and 
two  of  them  were  lodged  in  the  room  through 
which  the  prison  of  St.  John  was  entered.  At 
first  that  seemed  another  difficulty  for  the  prisoner 
to  overcome,  hut  it  was  in  reality  a  help,  for  as 
the  weather  was  hot,  the  two  religious  kept  the 
door  of  the  room  open  for  the  sake  of  greater  cool¬ 
ness.  But  they  continued  to  converse  together  a 
great  part  of  the  night,  and  had  placed  theii  beds 


LIFE  OF  ST,  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


105 


close  to  the  door.  Meanwhile,  St.  John,  in  his 
cell,  was  making  preparations ;  he  tore  the  two 
cloaks,  which  they  had  given  him  to  cover  him  at 
night,  into  strips,  and  tied  them  together  that 
they  might  serve  him  for  a  rope.  That  done,  he 
betook  himself  to  prayer,  in  which  he  spent  the 
rest  of  the  time  till  the  hour  he  had  fixed  for  his 
going  forth.  .Ahout  two  o  clock  in  the  morning 
he  took  up  the  iron  lamp— it  had  probably  gone 
out — with  the  rope  he  had  made,  and  calling  on 
our  Lady  to  help  him,  he  heard  a  voice  within 
saying,  1  Be  cjuick.*  He  then  shook  the  dooi,  and 
the  loosened  staple  gave  way.  But  the  noise  it 
made  disturbed  the  sleeping  friars,  who  cried  out, 

<  yyho  is  there  ?’  He  made  no  answer,  and  they, 
knowing  nothing  of  his  presence,  soon  fell  asleep 

again. 

He  now  waited  a  while,  and  when  he  thought 
that  the  two  friars  were  once  more  sound  asleep, 
he  left  his  cell,  crossed  the  room,  and  almost 
treading  on  the  sleepers,  passed  out  undiscovered 
to  the  corridor,  straight  to  the  window  which  he 
had  seen  in  a  vision.  The  window  had  a  wooden 
parapet,  the  lower  part  oi  which  was  not  then 
joined  to  the  brickwork  j  in  the  opening  he  in¬ 
serted  the  iron  rod  from  which  the  lamp  hung, 
and  made  his  rope  fast  to  it.  Then  commending 
himself  to  Grod  and  His  Most  Holy  Mothei,  he 
let  himself  down  in  the  darkness  to  a  place  he 
had  never  seen  in  his  life.  The  rope  was  much 
too  short,  and  he,  thinking  he  wras  near  the  giound, 


106  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

though  in  truth  very  far  from  it,  and  praying  for 
help,  let  the  rope  go.  He  was  neither  stunned 
nor  hurt,  and  yet  he  fell,  from  a  considerable 
height,  and  on  loose  stones,  heaped  there  for  the 
building  of  the  church  of  the  monastery.  He  was 
so  near  the  city  walls,  that  if  he  had  fallen  some 
two  feet  further  off,  he  would  have  fallen  on  the 
other  side  of  the  wall,  which  in  that  place  was 

very  high. 

He  had  left  one  prison  to  find  himself  in 
another,  of  which  he  knew  nothing,  for  he  was 
still  within  the  precincts  of  the  monastery,  and 
the  night  was  dark.  He  did  not  know  his  way, 
and  no  outlet  was  to  he  seen.  As  his  eyes  grew 
accustomed  to  the  darkness,  he  saw  a  dog  gnawing 
some  hones  which  had  been  thrown  near  the  heap 
of  stones ;  he  went  up  to  the  dog  and  frightened 
him  away,  meaning  to  follow  the  dumb  brute,  and 
thereby  find  a  way  out.  The  dog  bounded  over 
the  wall,  which,  as  he  had  heard  from  his  gaoler, 
separated  the  monastery  of  the  friars  in  that  part 
from  a  courtyard  of  the  Franciscan  nuns  of  the 
Monastery  of  the  Conception.  The  courtyard  was 
behind  the  church,  but  not  within  the  enclosure, 
and  the  wall  was  high.  The  saint  was  not  only 
weak  from  his  long  imprisonment,  but  worn  also 
by  his  descent  from  the  window,  so  it  was  impos¬ 
sible  for  him  to  climb  over  the  wall.  In  his  dis¬ 
tress  he  prayed  again  to  our  Blessed  Lady  for  help, 
and  somehow  or  other,  he  knew  not  how,  he  reached 
the  top  of  the  wall,  and  let  himself  down  on  the 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


107 


other  side.  He  was  now  out  of  his  prison,  and 
outside  the  monastery  also,  hut  when  he  went 
round  the  courtyard  his  search  was  in  vain  for  a  way 
to  escape.  Two  sides  of  that  enclosure  were  girt 
by  the  city  walls,  underneath  which  the  Tagus 
flowed ;  on  the  third  side  was  the  wall  of  the 
monastery  out  of  which  he  had  come ;  and  the 
fourth  side— the  part  of  it  which  was  next  the 
city — wag  protected  by  another  wall  built  on  a 
high  hank.  He  thought  the  dog  had  disappeared 
inthat  direction,  and  so  he  went  to  that  side,  but 
the  wall  was  so  high  that  he  gave  up  at  once  all 

hopes  of  escape  that  wray. 

In  his  misery — for  he  felt  that  discovery  in 

such  a  place  would  he  worse  than  in  any  other— 
he  went  again  round  the  court,  but  he  could  find 
no  outlet ;  he  was  hemmed  in  between  four  walls, 
and  there  was  no  means  of  escape.  He  could  do 
no  more  by  human  means,  so  he  prayed  that  He 
who  had  begun  to  deliver  him  would  he  pleased  to 
finish  His  work.  While  still  praying  for  help  he 
saw  a  wonderful  light,  out  of  which  came  a  voice, 
saying,  ‘  Follow  me.’  He  followed,  and  the  light 
moved  before  him  towards  the  wall  which  was 
on  the  hank,  and  then  he  knew  not  how  he  found 
himself  on  the  summit  of  it  without  effort  or  fa¬ 
tigue.  He  descended  into  the  street,  and  then 
the  light  vanished.  So  brilliant  was  it,  that  for 
two  or  three  days  afterwards,  so  he  confessed  at  a 
later  time,  his  eyes  were  weak,  as  if  he  had  been 
looking  at  the  sun  in  its  strength. 


108  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS* 

He  bad  never  been  in  Toledo,  and  knew  not 
one  street  from  another;  be  was  therefore  not 
safe  •  but  giving  hearty  thanks  to  our  Lord  for 
bis  miraculous  Escape,  and  confident  that  bis 
deliverance  would  be  complete,  be  took  shelter 
in  the  porch  of  a  large  bouse  which  bad  been 
left  open.  Then  when  the  day  began  to  break 
be  saw  a  woman  making  ready  her  wares  for  the 
public  market  of  the  city,  and  asked  her  the  way 
to  the  Monastery  of  the  Barefooted  Carmelites. 
It  was  the  monastery  founded  by  St.  Teresa,  in 
1568.  The  people  looked  at  him  with  amaze¬ 
ment  as  be  walked  through  the  streets,  for  be  bad 
on  an  old  and  worn  habit,  but  no  mantle,  and  bis 
biographer  says  that  bis  appearance  was  rather 
that  of  a  man  beside  himself  than  of  a  grave 
religious  of  Carmel. 

He  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  monastery  it 
was  about  five  o’clock— and  at  the  turn  be  found 
sister  Leonor  of  Jesus.  He  told  her  that  be  was 
John  of  the  Cross,  who  bad  just  escaped  from 
prison,  and  now  wished  her  to  tell  the  mother 
prioress  that  be  was  there.  The  astonished  sister 
lost  no  time  in  delivering  her  message ;  the  news 
of  bis  escape  ran  through  the  monastery  in  an 
instant,  and  made  all  the  religious  glad.  He  bad 
been  for  eight  months  close  to  them,  and  j  et  none 

of  them  knew  where  be  was. 

At  the  moment  of  St.  John’s  arrival  at  the 

door  of  the  monastery,  one  of  the  sisters,  Anne  of 
the  Mother  of  God,  who  bad  been  ill  foi  some 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


109 


time,  thought  herself  to  he  in  serious  danger,  and 
begged  the  confessor  of  the  house  might  be  sent 
for.  St.  John  had  come  in  time,  and  the  con¬ 
fessor  was  not  disturbed.  Weak  and  ill  as  he 
was,  he  ascended  to  the  infirmary  where  the  sister 
was  supposed  to  be  dying.  The  nuns  saw  that  he 
could  scarcely  walk,  and  that  he  was  worn  and 
weary ;  so  before  he  entered  the  infirmary  they 
insisted  on  his  taking  food,  which  they  provided 
for  him  at  once. 

Having  recruited  his  strength,  he  went  in 
to  the  infirmary,  and  while  hearing  the  sister’s 
confession,  the  friars  of  the  mitigation,  out  of 
whose  prison  he  had  made  his  escape  during  the 
night,  came  to  the  monastery  with  the  officers  of 
justice.  They  had  discovered  that  their  prisoner 
was  gone,  and  searched  the  parlour,  the  confes¬ 
sional,  the  sacristy,  and  the  church,  for  they  were 
persuaded  that  he  would  go  to  that  monastery,  if 
not  for  refuge,  certainly  for  the  means  of  leaving 
Toledo,  and  they  hoped  to  be  in  time  to  seize 
him.  They  did  not  find  him,  and  went  to  seek 
for  him  elsewhere. 

The  nuns  kept  the  saint  in  the  house,  and,  as 
long  as  they  could,  in  the  infirmary,  which  was  a 
place  of  safety;  for  the  friars,  even  if  they  re¬ 
turned  in  search  of  him,  would  hardly  seek  him 
there.  The  nuns  asked  him  to  tell  them  the  story 
of  his  sufferings.  They  said  it  would  comfort  the 
sick  sister  to  hear  it ;  and  he  yielded  to  their  wish. 
But  in  all  he  said  there  was  not  one  word  against 


110  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

the  friars  he  had  left,  nor  any  trace  of  ill-feeling;  he 
made  excuses  for  them,  and  threw  on  himself  all 
the  blame.  Meanwhile  the  sisters  were  providing 
a  habit  for  him,  such  as  was  befitting  his  Older, 
for  he  was  clad  in  the  habit  of  the  mitigation. 
Towards  evening  he  went  down  to  the  church. 

The  prioress  now  sent  for  a  great  friend  ot  the 
order  Don  Pedro  Gonzalez  de  Mendoza,  canon 
and’  treasurer  of  the  cathedral  church,  to  whom 
she  told  what  had  taken  place.  It  was  impossib  e 
to  lodge  St.  John  in  the  monastery,  and  it  was 
dangerous  to  send  him  out.  Don  Pedro’f i  carriage 
was  waiting  at  the  door,  and  into  that  St.  John 
hurried  with  the  canon,  who  took  him  to  his  own 
lodgings,  which  at  that  time  were  within  the  Hos¬ 
pital  of  the  Holy  Cross,  he  being  the  administrator 
of  it  that  year.  The  saint  remained  with  him 
some  days,  and  then,  when  he  had  recovered  his 
strength,  Don  Pedro  sent  two  of  his  servants  with 
him  who  took  him  safely  to  the.  Monastery  of  Al¬ 
modovar  del  Campo,  to  the  friars  of  his  own  order. 

The  friars  of  the  mitigation  were  very  much 
distressed  when  they  found  that  their  prisoner 
had  made  his  escape ;  they  put  the  gaoler  to  pen¬ 
ance,  and  deprived  him  for  a  time  of  his  p  ace 
in  the  chapter  and  choir.  They  were  not  a  little 
troubled,  however,  when  they  found  how  he  ha 
got  out  of  the  monastery,  for  they  could  not  help 
seeing  that  the  means  were  not  naturally  sufficien  . 
The  rope  could  not  sustain  the  weight  of  his  body, 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 


Ill 


and  its  own  weight  alone  would,  under  other  cir¬ 
cumstances,  have  detached  the  parapet  from  the 
wall,  and  bent  the  iron  rod  of  the  lamp  from  which 
it  hung.  Many  of  the  religious,  however,  saw  in 
it  the  hand  of  God,  and  were  glad  the  prisoner  was 
free. 

Soon  afterwards  St.  Teresa  returned  to  Toledo 
from  Avila.  The  news  of  his  escape  had  reached 
her  before  she  left  Avila,  but' it  is  probable  that 
she  could  not  learn  how  much  the  saint  had  suf¬ 
fered  before  she  came  to  Toledo.  "When  she  heard 
the  story  of  the  imprisonment,  she  wished  the 
Nuncio  to  be  told  of  the  way  in  which  the  friars 
of  the  mitigation,  whom  he  befriended,  had  dealt 
with  one  who  was  wholly  innocent,  and  of  whom 
she  said  afterwards  that  *  she  was  not  worthy  to 
suffer  as  he  had  done.’* 

*  Lett.  215,  written  in  Avila  in  December  1578. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Troubles  in  the  Order— Chapter  of  Almodovar— St.  John 
of  the  Cross  made  Vicar  of  Mount  Calvary  visits 
yeas — reforms  the  monastery — Mendicancy — Poverty 
— Writes  on  mystical  theology. 

When  St.  John  of  the  Cross  arrived  in  Almo¬ 
dovar,  he  found  the  great  work  he  had  begun 
in  Duruelo  ten  years  before  in  the  utmost  danger. 
Monsignore  Sega,  the  Nuncio,  unfriendly  to  it, 
had  been  made  still  more  unfriendly  by  the  con¬ 
duct  of  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God,  to  whom 
the  late  Nuncio  had  intrusted  it.  Monsignore 
Sega  was  surprised  at  Fra  Jerome’s  acts,  and  very 
much-  displeased  because  he  did  not  cease  fiom  the 
use  of  the  faculties  granted  by  the  former  Nuncio. 
He  thought  that  Fra  Jerome  ought  to  have  con¬ 
sidered  them  as  no  longer  lawful,  and  so,  to  make 
matters  safe,  he  demanded  of  Fra  Jerome  the  sur¬ 
render  of  his  faculties.  Unhappily  Fra  Jerome 
was  weak  enough  to  refuse,  and  in  so  doing  dis¬ 
obeyed  the  Nuncio  of  the  Pope.  This  refusal  of 
Fra  Jerome  to  give  up  his  faculties  was  a  great 
grief  to  St.  Teresa,*  and  an  annoyance  to  Mon- 
*  Lett!* 211,  to  Fra  Jerome,  Oct.  1578. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  113 

signore  Sega.  It  is  true  that  learned  lawyers 
had  told  Fra  Jerome  he  might  continue  to  exercise 
his  office  of  visitor  under  the  commission  of  the 
late  Nuncio,  notwithstanding  the  arrival  of  his 
successor,  but  it  does  not  seem  that  they  either 
did,  or  could,  justify  his  refusal  to  surrender  his 
faculties,  when  they  were  demanded  by  one  who 
was  the  equal  in  authority  of  him  who  had  granted 
them  at  first. 

The  Nuncio  was  determined  to  preserve  his 
authority,  as  legate  of  the  Holy  See.  Though  the 
king  had  given  orders  to  his  own  officers  to  hinder 
the  execution  of  the  decrees  of  the  Nuncio  in  the 
affairs  of  the  religious  orders,  Monsignore  Sega 
pursued  his  course,  and  appointed  his  own  visitors 
they  were  friars  of  the  mitigation — recalling  and 
quashing  at  the  same  time  all  the  faculties  hitherto 
held  by  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God. 

The  visitors  appointed  by  the  Nuncio  entered 
on  their  work,  and  in  August  1578  went  to  Pas¬ 
trana  to  receive  the  submission  of  the  friars  there ; 
St.  John  of  the  Cross  being  at  the  time  in  prison  in 
Toledo.  The  people  of  Pastrana,  when  they  heard 
of  their  approach,  went  to  the  governor,  and  insis¬ 
ted  on  his  executing  the  king’s  orders  ;  in  other 
words,  on  his  hindering  the  visitation.  The  friars 
themselves,  at  least  some  of  them,  were  ready 
enough  to  resist,  under  the  protection  of  the  civil 
authorities,  but  happily  better  counsels  prevailed, 
and  the  visitors  were  admitted.  Fra  Jerome  him- 
self,  by  the  advice  of  a  pious  lay  brother,  gave  way, 

i 


114  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

submitted  to  the  visitors,  and  resigned  bis  com¬ 
mission.  At  this  time  the  prior  of  Manzera,  Fra 
John  of  Jesus,  came  to  Madrid  on  the  affairs  of 
bis  order,  and  presented  bimself  before  the  Nuncio. 
The  Nuncio  would  not  even  bear  him,  but  ordered 
him  to  remain  a  prisoner  in  the  Carmelite  house 
of  the  mitigation.  From  bis  prison  be  wrote  to  the 
Nuncio,  begging  at  least  to  be  beard  in  bis  own 
defence,  but  apparently  in  vain.  After  some  time 
the  Nuncio  went  to  the  monastery,  and  all  the 
fathers,  except  the  prior  of  Manzera,  came  forth 
to  receive  him.  When  the  Nuncio  bad  entered 
the  choir,  he  asked  for  Fra  John  of  Jesus,  and  as 
be  was  not  present,  be  desired  him  to  be  sent  for. 
The  Nuncio  received  him  courteously,  and  asked 
him  what  be  bad  to  say ;  be  replied  that  he  wished 
to  defend  bis  brethren  the  barefooted  friars.  There¬ 
upon  the  Nuncio  ordered  the  friars  of  the  mitiga¬ 
tion  to  withdraw,  when  Fra  John  began.  But  as 
soon  as  he  uttered  the  name  of  St.  Teresa,  the 
Nuncio  could  not  restrain  himself,  and  spoke  of 
her  as  an  unquiet,  gadabout,  disobedient,  and 
obstinate  woman,  who  under  colour  of  piety  was 
bringing  in  dangerous  doctrines,  who  went  about 
the  country,  careless  about  enclosure  and  the  de¬ 
crees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  teaching,  though  a 
woman,  in  despite  of  St.  Paul,  who  forbade  women 
to  teach.  The  friar  heard  this  with  amazement ; 
but  he  took  courage,  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to 
speak.  The  Nuncio  gave  him  leave,  and  he  spoke 
so  truly  and  so  well,  so  humbly  and  yet  so  firmly, 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  115 

in  defence  of  St.  Teresa,  showing  that  she  had 
acted  in  everything,  and  always,  under  obedience 
of  her  superiors,  that  the  Nuncio  showed  signs  of 
relenting.  Fra  John,  seeing  the  change,  proposed 
to  him  the  separation  of  the  barefooted  friars  from 
those  of  the  mitigation.  The  Nuncio  listened, 
and  then  asked  Fra  John  why  the  friars  of  the 
reform,  having  a  rule  of  their  own  and  wearing  a 
different  habit,  should  find  any  inconvenience  in 
being  governed  by  a  friar  of  the  mitigation.  Fra 
John  said,  the  friars  of  the  mitigation  would  not 
govern  them  according  to  their  rule,  for  their  aim 
was  to  suppress  them.  When  the  Nuncio  had 
considered  the  matter  for  a  moment,  he  told  Fra 
John,  ‘  You  shall  not  be  governed  then  by  the  friars 
of  the  mitigation/  and  he  told  him  further  to  write 
to  all  the  monasteries  of  the  reform  that  the 
Nuncio  would  himself  attend  to  all  their  affairs. 

The  courage  of  Fra  John  was  met  by  the 
justice  of  the  Nuncio ;  and  as  the  latter,  hitherto 
unfriendly  to  the  reform,  was  now  won  over,  the 
troubles  of  the  order  might  have  ended  here.  The 
friars  were  numerous,  having  many  houses,  and 
novices  were  everywhere  pressing  in ;  and  as  we 
learn  from  St.  Teresa,  the  primitive  rule  was  at 
this  time  professed  by  more  than  two  hundred 
friars.* 

But  peace  was  not  to  be  yet.  The  Nuncio 
heard  of  the  royal  decrees  issued  for  the  purpose 

Letters  of  St.  Teresa ,  Lett.  179,  to  the  Provincial  of 
the  Jesuits,  Father  Suarez,  Feh.  10,  1578. 


116  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

of  hindering  him  in  the  execution  of  his  duties  as 
visitor  of  the  order.  Unhappily  he  persuaded 
himself  that  those  decrees  had  been  issued  at  the 
instance  of  the  barefooted  friars  of  St.  Teresa,  and 
so,  suspecting  the  fathers  of  dishonesty,  sent  for 
Fra  John  of  Jesus,  whom  he  reprimanded  with 
great  severity.  He  then  ordered  him  to  make  a 
retreat  for  two  months  in  Madrid,  and  then  retire 
to  his  monastery  of  Manzera. 

There  was  more  trouble  in  Carmel.  Some  of 
the  friars — of  whom  Fra  Antonio  of  Jesus  was  the 
chief— determined  to  hold  a  chapter  in  Almodovar 
del  Campo,  though  they  were  without  a  provincial, 
and  though  the  government  of  them  was,  by  dele¬ 
gation  of  the  Nuncio,  in  the  hands  of  the  friars  of 
the  mitigation.  Fra  Antonio  had  been  elected 
definitor  in  the  chapter  held  in  Almodovar  del 
Campo,  in  September  1576;  and  now  that  Fra 
Jerome  had  resigned  his  office  of  provincial,  he 
believed  himself  to  have  some  authority  in  the 
order,  notwithstanding  the  resumption  by  the 
Nuncio  of  all  authority  in  it.  In  this  he  was 
fortified  by  lawyers,  who  advised  him  according 
to  his  wishes  ;  so  he  summoned  a  chapter  to 
meet  in  Almodovar,  on  the  9th  day  of  October 
1578. 

This  was  against  the  opinion  of  St.  Teresa, 
who,  in  a  letter  to  Fra  Jerome,  says  she  was 
glad  to  hear  from  him  they  wTere  not  going  to 
elect  a  provincial,  ‘  though  Fra  Antonio  told  me 
they  were  bound  under  pain  of  sin  to  do  so; 


117 


LIFE  OF  Sf.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

' 

however,  I  did  not  contradict  him.’*  The  saint 
made  no  objection  because  she  thought  it  was  too 
late  ;  but  she  never  approved  of  the  proceedings 
in  Almodovar  del  Campo. 

Fra  Antonio,  as  the  definitor,  presided  in  the 
chapter;  his  brethren  elected  him  provincial  of 
the  reform.  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  newly  es¬ 
caped  out  of  prison,  withheld  his  Consent,  for 
he  regarded  the  election  as  illegal,  and  beyond 
their  power.  The  assembled  fathers  would  not 
attend  to  him,  and  wrent  on  with  their  work  from 
day  to  day  as  if  they  were  met  together  in  a  law¬ 
ful  chapter,  with  full  authority  to  do  what  they 
were  doing.  Fra  John  of  Jesus  in  Madrid  heard 
of  these  doings,  and  instead  of  returning  to  Man- 
zera,  as  the  Nuncio  had  ordered  him,  hastened  to 
Almodovar,  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  dissuade 
his  brethren  from  their  illegal  courses.  When  he 
arrived,  he  pointed  out  to  them  that  they  had  no 
authority  whatever,  and  that  the  election  of  a 
provincial  was  an  act  of  separation  from  their 
brethren  :  they  were  therefore  setting  up  a  new 
order  without  the  sanction  of  the  Pope,  which  was 
unlawful,  and  rebelling  against  their  immediate 
superior,  the  Nuncio  of  his  Holiness. 

Fra  John,  as  St.  John  of  the  Cross  before  him, 
preached  to  unwilling  hearers,  and,  the  chapter 
ended,  wras  ordered  into  prison  by  his  brethren, 
where  he  was  kept  for  a  month,  that  he  might 
not  tell  the  Nuncio  the  story  of  their  deeds. 

*  Lett.  211,  October  15,  1578. 


118 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


These  friars  had  suffered  themselves;  but  they 
were  none  the  less  ready  to  make  Fra  John  suffer 
also.  In  the  same  chapter,  against  the  wishes  of 
St.  Teresa,*  they  chose  two  of  their  brethren  to 
go  to  Eome  to  obtain  the  confirmation  of  their 
acts ;  one  of  them  was  Fra  Pedro  of  the  Angels, 
prior  of  the  Monastery  of  Mount  Calvary,  a  zealous 
and  austere*man,  who  had  left  the  mitigation  for 
the  reform;  he  was  regarded  as  a  saint  by  his 
brethren  because  of  the  great  graces  which  God 
had  bestowed  upon  him.  St.  John  of  the  Cross, 
however,  was  not  comforted  by  the  choice,  and 
divinely  enlightened,  said  to  Fra  Pedro,  ‘  You  are 
going,  my  father,  shoeless  to  Eome ;  but  you  will 
return  to  Spain  shod.’  The  prophecy  was  accom¬ 
plished.  Fra  Pedro  became  lax,  and  betrayed  his 
trust  through  weakness;  and  on  his  return  to 
Spain,  having  done  no  service  whatever  to  the 
order,  went  back  to  his  brethren  of  the  mitigation 
in  their  monastery  in  Granada,  where  he  ended 
his  days  under  a  cloud  of  sorrow  and  of  shame. 

Fra  Pedro  was  prior  of  Mount  Calvary,  and 
now  that  his  brethren  were  sending  him  to  Eome, 
they  must  supply  his  absence  in  the  monastery. 
They  elected  St.  John  of  the  Cross  to  be  the  vicar 
of  the  house  during  the  rest  of  the  term  cf  the  pri- 
orate  of  Fra  Pedro,  if  he  should  be  absent  so  long. 

Fra  Antonio,  the  new  provincial,  perhaps  not 
without  grave  misgivings,  went  with  some  of  his 
brethren  from  Almodovar  to  Madrid.  He  pre- 

*  Lett.  211. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  119 

sented  himself  before  the  Nuncio,  and  told  Mon¬ 
signore  Sega  that  he  and  his  brethren  had  come 
to  him  from  the  chapter  to  obtain  the  confirma¬ 
tion  of  Fra  Antonio  as  provincial  of  the  barefooted 
friars.  The  Nuncio,  hearing  the  words  chapter, 
election,  provincial,  and  knowing  that  all  had 
been  done  without  his  consent,  who  was  their 
superior,  stopped  all  further  discourse,  pronounced 
their  acts  a  nullity,  and  ordered  them  into  prison, 
excommunicating  at  the  same  time  all  those  who 
had  any  share  in  the  unhappy  proceedings  in 
Almodovar.  Believing  the  friars  to  be  wholly 
dishonest  in  all  their  dealings  with  him,  and  that 
they  could  not  be  trusted,  he  appointed  friars  of 
the  mitigation  to  govern  all  the  houses  of  the 
reform,  which  was  the  most  certain  road  to  their 
final  suppression. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  had  left  Almodovar 
before  the  Nuncio  had  heard  of  the  ill-advised 
doings  o i  the  illegal  chapter,  and  on  his  way  to 
Mount  Calvary  stopped  at  Yeas  to  see  the  nuns 
theie,  and  especially  the  prioress,  the  Venerable 
Anne  of  Jesus.  The  nuns  rejoiced  to  see  the 
confessor  who  had  suffered  so  much  for  the  order, 
and  who  was  the  great  pillar  of  the  reform  among 
the  friars.  The  prioress,  while  he  was  in  the  par¬ 
lour,  desired  one  of  the  nuns  to  sing.  The  sister 
sang,  and  her  song  was  of  the  blessedness  of  suf¬ 
fering.  But  almost  as  soon  as  she  began,  the 
servant  of  God  felt  that  he  was  about  to  fall  into 
a  trance,  so  he  made  a  sign  to  the  religious  to 


120 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 


cease,  but  it  was  too  lg>te ;  so  lie  clung  to  the  bars 
of  the  grating  lest  his  body  should  be  lifted  up 
from  the  ground.  Ho  remained  for  an  hour  lost 
in  prayer,  insensible  to  all  around  him  ;  and  thus 
the  nuns  of  Yeas  became  witnesses  of  the  marvels 
seen  before  by  the  nuns  of  the  Incarnation  in  Avila 
when  he  was  confessor  there. 

From  Yeas  he  went  to  the  Monastery  of  Mount 
Calvary,  far  away  from  the  tumults  of  men  in  the 
solitudes  of  Andalucia.  The  friars  of  Penuela  had 
removed  thither  in  December  1576,  in  obedience 
to  a  decree  of  the  first  chapter  of  Almodovar,  held 
September  8th  of  that  year.  Penuela  was  an 
unhealthy  place,  the  friars  were  always  sickly,  and 
death  was  frequent  among  them;  the  chapter 
therefore  decided  that  the  place  should  be  aban¬ 
doned.  The  prior,  Fra  Pedro  of  the  Angels,  set¬ 
tled  the  community,  thirty  in  number,  in  a  solitude 
called  Corencuela,  and  the  monastery  was  known 
as  the  Monastery  of  Mount  Calvary. 

Fra  Pedro  was  a  man  of  great  zeal,  mortified 
and  laborious ;  he  had  also  the  gift  of  prayer,  and 
was  often  seen  lost  in  raptures.  He  was  at  this 
time  greatly  thought  of  in  the  order,  for  he  had 
been  chosen  as  the  delegate  of  the  friars  to  go  to 
Pome,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Almodovar,  as  well 
as  in  the  second.  The  pressure  of  other  mat¬ 
ters  hindered  the  first  choice  from  being  effective, 
and  Fra  Pedro  did  not  leave  Spain,  but  now  he 
■ttent;  and  it  would  have  done  no  harm  to  his 
brethren  if  he  had  stayed  at  home,  so  far  as  their 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


121 


public  affairs  were  concerned.  But  not  so  as  to  tlie 
government  of  tlie  Monastery  of  Mount  Calvaiy. 
He  bad  been  at  least  indiscreet,  and  bad  sanctioned 
many  practices  wliicli  were  not  wise.  As.  before 
in  Pastrana,  so  now  in  Corencuela,  St.  John  of  the 
Cross,  whose  whole  life  was  one  continued  mortifi¬ 
cation,  bad  to  restrain  and  temper  tbe  mortifica¬ 
tions  of  others,  by  checking  certain  practices  and 
observances  which  had  either  crept  in  or  had  been 
openly  brought  in,  without  clear  warrant  of  the 
rule  and  constitutions. 

There  were  men  there,  as  elsewhere,  who  de¬ 
fended  these  novelties,  but  the  servant  of  God  was 
firm.  When  they  told  him  that  they  were  within 
their  right,  because  the  rule  allows  things  to  be 
done  which  are  not  enjoined  by  it,  he  answeied 
that  the  permission  was  for  single  persons,  not  for 
whole  communities,  and  that  the  general  order  of 
the  house  should  never  he  disturbed  by  practices 
not  sanctioned  by  the  rule,  nor  by  any  observances 
which  any  member  of  it  might  adopt  for  his  own 
sanctification.  They  urged  upon  him  the  fuithei 
consideration  that  this  house  was  in  a  remote  and 
lonely  place,  far  away  from  the  concourse  of  men, 
and  that  as  none  claimed  their  services  outside 
the  monastery,  they  were  therefore  free,  if  not 
bound,  to  lead  a  more  rigorous  life,  and  might 
lawfully  observe  many  practices  not  to  be  found  in 

•  other  houses  of  the  order. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  would  not  give  way;  he 
insisted  on  the  careful  observance  of  the  rule  and 


122  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

constitutions  by  which  their  lives  were  to  be 
ordered.  They  were  to  attain  to  perfection  in  a 
definite  way,  and  not  by  haphazard,  or  by  ways 
otherwise  good  and  fitting  for  other  orders.  The 
friars  of  Carmel  were  called  to  one  special  kind  of 
life ;  and  they  would  miss  their  road  if  they  de¬ 
parted  from  it.  He  would  not  allow  the  commu¬ 
nity,  though  the  friars  had  no  work  to  do  outside 
the  house,  to  burden  itself  with  any  practices 
which  were  not  observed  throughout  the  order. 
These  novelties  were  full  of  danger;  for  those' 
houses  in  which  the  irregularities  were  allowed 
would  be  shunned  by  the  old  friars,  worn  out  by 
their  labours,  and  only  the  young  and  the  strong 
would  frequent  them ;  which  would  be  an  injury 
to  all.  The  old  friars  would  lose  the  rest  and 
solitude  necessary  for  contemplation,  which  inmost 
of  the  houses  might  be  difficult  to  find ;  and  the 
young  friars,  not  having  yet  reached  the  perfection 
of  their  state,  would  be  carried  away  by  the  sweet¬ 
ness  of  excessive  penance,  and  miss  the  road  to 
solid  devotion. 

On  this  subject  we  have  his  judgment  given  at 
a  later  time,  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  the  first  book 
of  the  Obscure  Night : 

‘  Many  beginners,  delighting  in  the  sweetness  and  joy 
which  they  find  in  such  practices,  seek  after  spiritual 
sweetness  more  than  pure  and  true  devotion,  which  is  that 
which  God  regards  and  accepts  in  the  whole  course  of  the 
spiritual  road.  For  which  reason,  over  and  above  their 
imperfection  in  seeking  alter  sweetness  in  devotion,  the 
spirit  of  gluttony  which  has  taken  possession  of  them  forces 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CHOSS. 


123 


them  to  overstep  the  bounds  of  moderation,  within  which 
virtue  is  acquired  and  consists.  Allured  by  the  sweetness 
they  find  therein,  some  of  them  kill  themselves  by  penance, 
and  others  weaken  themselves  by  fasting,  taking  upon 
themselves  without  rule  or  advice  more  than  their  "weak¬ 
ness  can  beai  ,  they  try  rather  to  hide  their  doings  from 
those  whom  they  are  bound  to  obey  in  the  matter,  and 
some  even  dare  to  practise  austerities  expressly  forbidden 
them.  These  are  full  of  imperfections,  people  without  rea¬ 
son,  who  put  aside  discretion  and  submission  and  obedi¬ 
ence  wliicn  is  the  penance  of  reason,  and  therefore  a  sacri¬ 
fice  moie  sweet,  and  acceptable  to  God  than  all  the  other 
acts  of  bodily  penance.  Bodily  penance  is  full  of  imperfec¬ 
tions,  it  that  of  the  rule  be  neglected,  because  men  are  drawn 
to  it  simply  because  they  like  it,  and  find  pleasure  in  it.’ 

This  seems  to  have  been  a  difficulty  which  St. 
John  of  the  Cross  and  St.  Teresa  had  to  fight 
against  everywhere ;  both  friars  and  nuns  were 
fond  of  novelties :  they  were  ready  to  add  to  the 
rule,  and  devise  new  ways  of  perfection.  St.  Teresa 
says  she  was  edified  by  much  that  she  saw ;  but 
she  adds,  ‘I  would  rather  they  kept  the  rule.’*  In 
the  same  sense  she  wrote  to  Fra  Jerome  of  the 
Mother  of  God  himself,  May  22,  1578 ;  for  even 
he  could  not  refrain  from  adding  to  the  burdens  of 
communities.  ‘Believe  me,’  said  the  saint,  ‘these 
houses  are  doing  well,  and  need  not  to  be  laden 
with  more  observances,  which  are  a  burden  to  the 
nuns.  Do  not  forget  this,  I  entreat  you.  What 
we  have  to  do  is  to  insist  on  keeping  the  consti¬ 
tutions,  nothing  more ;  enough  is  done  when  they 
are  kept.’!  Again,  in  another  letter  to  the  same 

*  Foundations,  xviii.  §  7.  f  Lett.  195,  May  22,  1578. 


124 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


father,  written  about  eighteen  months  before  her 
death,- she  complains  of  her  own  prioresses:  ‘I 
wish  we  had  the  constitutions  printed,  for  they 
are  not  everywhere  alike ;  and  many  a  prioress, 
not  thinking  that  she  is  doing  anything  out  of  the 
way,  leaves  out  or  puts  in  what  she  likes  when 
copying  them.’* 

On  this  subject  St.  Teresa  was  firm.  She  knew 
the  dangers  of  novelties,  and  the  security  of  beaten 
tracks;  and  that  the  true  director  of  souls  was  our 
Lord,  who  had  called  them  to  serve  Him  in  a  par¬ 
ticular  way.  ‘  Our  Lord  leads  souls,’  she  wrote,! 
‘by  different  roads;  but  the  prioresses  must  keep 
in  mind  that  they  have  not  been  appointed  to  guide 
souls  by  ways  which  they  like  themselves,  but  by 
the  way  of  the  rule  and  constitutions. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  was  always  pitiless  when¬ 
ever  he  came  across  the  extravagances  of  men 
who  were  too  wise  in  their  own  eyes  to  keep  the 
law  under  which  they  were  to  live.  The  excesses 
of  Corenpuela  he  lopped  off,  as  he  had  lopped  off 
before  the  like  excesses  in  Pastrana.  He  who  was 
so  austere  himself  was  never  austere  with  others ; 
he  would  not  impose  rules  of  his  own  devising, 
nor  allow  others  to  impose  them,  if  they  were 
without  authority  to  do  it.  As  in  the  government 
of  communities,  so  in  the  .direction  of  single  per¬ 
sons,  he  never  made  himself  their  master.  He 
did  but  administer  the  law,,  and  wTatch  over  its 
observance.  ‘Spiritual  directors,’  he  said,  ‘are  not 
*  Lett.  321,  Feb.  21,  1581.  f  Foundations ,  xviii.  G. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


125 


the  chief  workers, 'but  .rather  the  Holy  Ghost; 
they,’  he  added,  ‘  are  mere  instruments,  only  to 
guide  souls  by  the  rule  of  faith  and  the  law  of 
God,  according  to  the  spirit  which  God  gives  to 
each.  Their  object,  therefore,  should  be  not  to 
guide  souls  by  a  way  of  their  own,  suitable  to 
themselves ;  hut  to  ascertain,  if  they  can,  the  way 
by  which  God  Himself  is  guiding  them.’* 

Experience  also  showed  how  right  the  two 
saints  were  in  their  resistance  to  these  observ¬ 
ances,  which  were  unwisely  added  to  the  rule.  The 
prior  of  Corenguela  fell  away  from  the  order;  and 
the  novice  master  in  Pastrana  was  so  wedded  to 
his  own  inventions,  that  he  could  not  submit  to  a 
higher  authority  without  great  murmuring  and 
discontent ;  a  sure  proof  of  self-will. 

While  he  was  checking  extravagances,  and 
moderating  penances  in  others,  his  own  life  was 
the  most  penitential  in  the  house.  But  his  pen¬ 
ances  never  were  in  the  way,  and  his  austeiities 
never  interfered  with  the  regular  observance  of  the 
community.  His  cell  was  the  poorest  and  the  most 
scantily  furnished.  He  had  in  it  but  two  books, 
his  Breviary  and  the  sacred  writings;  if  he  wanted 
other  books  he  went  to  the  library  for  them,  and 
took  them  back  as  soon  as  he  had  done  with  them. 
He  slept  about  two  hours  during  the  night,  the 
rest  was  spent  in  prayer ;  either  in  the  church  be¬ 
fore  the  Most  Holy,  or  in  his  cell.  He  resumed 
the  terrible  penances  of  Duruelo,  and  gave  his 
*  Living  Flame ,  stanza  iii.  1.  3,  §  9,  Eng.  transl. 


126 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


body  no  rest ;  and  that  was  the  only  creature  of 
God  to  which  he  showed  himself  without  mercy. 

The  former  prior  of  Mount  Calvary,  among 
other  mortifications  visible  to  the  outer  world,  had 
allowed  the  friars  to  go  out  to  beg  for  the  monas¬ 
tery.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  had  always  resisted 
this ;  it  was  not  directed  by  the  rule,  and  was  in 
his  eyes  the  high-road  to  dissipation,  and  the  loss 
of  that  recollected  spirit  which  is  one  of  the  graces 
of  Carmel.  He  would  not  allow  any  begging,  un¬ 
der  any  conditions.  The  friars  were  the  servants 
of  God,  who  had  left  everything  to  follow  Him  ;  and 
He,  as  the  good  Master  of  the  house,  would  pro¬ 
vide  for  their  wants.  The  faith  of  the  saint  was 
strong  and  clear,  and  it  pained  him  to  see  one  Oi 
his  religious  give  way  to  uneasy  thoughts  about 
the  sustenance  of  his  brethren. 

One  day  he  was  told  that  there  was  no  food  in 
the  house ;  but  he  wTas  not  troubled  by  the  news. 
The  community  came  to  the  refectory,  according 
to  the  custom,  at  the  appointed  time ;  for  he  had 
given  orders  that  no  change  should  be  made.  A 
fragment  of  bread  was  found,  and  by  his  direction 
brought  into  the  refectory,  when  grace  was  said. 
The  fathers  sat  down  before  an  empty  table,  and 
St.  John  spoke  to  them  of  the  hidden  graces  of 
poverty,  of  the  merit  of  suffering,  and  conformity 
to  the  will  of  God,  with  so  much  unction  that  the 
fathers  left  the  refectory  with  their  hearts  on  fire ; 
and  gave  thanks  to  God  for  His  special  mercy  in 
leaving  them  that  day  without  food  to  eat.  They 


127 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

withdrew  to  their  cells,  and  no  sooner  had  they 
begun  to  prepare  themselves  for  prayer  than  the 
whole  house  was  disturbed  by  a  loud  knocking  a 

the  outer  gate. 

The  porter  went  to  the  door,  and  saw  there  a 
man  with  a  letter  in  his  hand  for  the  vicar.  The 
porter  took  it,  and  finding  St.  John  in  the  church, 
in  prayer  before  the  Most  Holy,  gave  it  to  him. 
The  saint  opened  it,  and  as  soon  as.  he  saw  what 
it  meant,  began  to  cry  like  a  man  m  pain.  Ihe 
porter  was  distressed,  and  begged  the  samt  to  tell 
him  why  he  was  weeping  so  bitterly.  The  sam 
replied,'  ‘  I  cry,  my  brother,  because  God  thinks 
us  too  weak  to  bear  hunger  any  longer ;  He  could 
not  trust  us  for  one  day,  and  is  sending  us  food. 
In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  a  servant  of  Dona 
Philippa  da  Caravajal  came  from  Ubeda  with  wo 
mules  laden  with  provisions  for  the  house.  _ 

In  the  town  of  Iznatorafe,  distant  about  six 
miles  from  the  monastery,  was  a  man  possessed  of 
the  devil,  and  whom  the  exorcisms  of  Holy  Church 
had  hitherto  failed  to  deliver.  His  friends  and 
relatives,  having  heard  of  th'e  sanctity  of  the  Vicar 
of  Mount  Calvary,  implored  him  to  come  to  then 
relief  The  saint  yielded  to  their  importunities, 
and  went  to  Iznatorafe.  The  man  possessed  was 
brought  to  him  ;  and  the  evil  spirit,  which  had  so 
cruelly  tormented  him,  showing  before  all  the 
terror  which  had  seized  upon  him,  m  a  whining 
voice  began  to  complain  that  another  St.  Basi 
bad  come.  The  servant  of  God  commanded  him, 


128 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


in  the  name  of  Christ,  to  cease  from  his  possession, 
and  on  the  instant  the  evil  spirit  departed;  the 
man  being  restored  to  perfect  health  of  mind  and 
body,  to  the  great  joy  of  all  the  people.  But  the 
devil,  thus  defeated,  was  bent  on  revenge;  and  en¬ 
tering  into  a  woman,  wrho  lived  in  a  village  through 
which  the  servant  of  God  had  to  pass  on  his  way 
home,  there  waited  his  coming.  When  the  saint 
had  arrived,  the  woman  came  forth  to  meet  him, 
and  begged  him  to  come  into  her  house ;  hut  he, 
recognising  his  enemy,  turned  away,  saying  he 
would  rather  go  into  hell  than  into  her  house. 

From  CorenQuela  he  went  once  in  every  week 
to  Yeas,  to  hear  the  confessions  of  the  nuns  there, 
to  their  great  consolation  and  help.  The  road 
was  hilly  and  rough ;  hut  he,  with  his  worn  frame, 
went  always  on  foot,  never  heeding  either  weather 
or  distance. 

The  nuns  were  earnestly  recommended  by  St. 
Teresa,  through  their  prioress,  Anne  of  Jesus,  to 
have  recourse  to  his  services ;  for  he  w7as  a  man, 
she  said,  of  ‘  very  great  spirituality,  learning,  and 
experience/  On  another  occasion  she  writes  to 
the  same  prioress,  and  says  that  she  has  ‘  not 
found  one  like  him  in  all  Castille.’* 

In  the  Monastery  of  Mount  Calvary >  the  saint 
began  to  write  on  mystical  theology ;  and  two  of 
his  books,  the  Ascent  of  Mount  Carmel  and  the 
Obscure  Night,  were  written  there. 

*  Lett.  219,  220,  written  about  the  end  of  1573. 


CHAPTER  X. 


Foundation  of  Baeza — Poverty  of  tlie  house — Miraculous 
succours — Tlie  saint  at  Mass. 

One  day  in  Yeas,  while  conversing  with  some  of 
the  nuns,  the  servant  of  God  said  that  he  should 
not  he  long  their  confessor.  They  were  surprised, 
and  asked  the  reason ;  after  some  difficulty,  for  the  • 
words  probably  escaped  him,  he  told  them  that  he 
must  leave  Corencuela  for  Baeza,  where  another 
house  of  the  order  would  be  soon  founded.  When 
the  nuns  had  heard  this,  they  said  they  were  not 
troubled,  for  another  foundation  was  impossible. 
So  it  seemed  at  the  time,  because  the  Nuncio  had 
forbidden  the  foundation  of  more  monasteries ; 
and  there  was  no  sign  of  any  change  in  his  deal¬ 
ings  with  the  reform  of  St.  Teresa. 

Nevertheless,  the  light  broke  in  upon  the  Nun¬ 
cio  at  last,  and  he  confessed  that  he  had  been  too 
hasty  in  trusting  to  the  reports  of  the  friars  of  the 
mitigation.  He  therefore  recalled  his  prohibition, 
and  allowed  the  friars  of  the  reform  to  do  their 
work  as  before.  In  the  very  beginning  of  April 
1579,  he  made  Fra  Angel  de  Salazar  superior  of 

K 


130  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

« 

the  reformed  friars  and  nuns,  forbidding  them,  at 
the  same  time,  to  obey  any  of  the  prelates  of  the 

mitigation.  . 

The  people  of  Baeza,  a  rich  and  noble  city, 

seeing  the  fathers  of  the  reform  in  Penuela,  wished 
to  have  them  also  within  their  own  gates.  The 
inhabitants  were  once  a  fierce  race,  divided  into 
two  factions ;  partisans  of  two  noble  families  at 
enmity  one  with  another.  The  city  was  dis¬ 
honoured  by  brawling,  fighting,  and  murder ;  the 
civil  authority  had  neither  power  nor  influence, 
and  the  city  seemed  doomed.  Into  this  dwelling- 
place  of  unceasing  bloodshed  came  the  holy  and 
venerable  priest  who  has  earned  the  title  of  Apos¬ 
tle  of  Andalucia,  Juan  of  Avila,  resolved  by  the 
grace  of  God  to  put  an  end  to  so  much  misery, 
and  to  quench  hereditary  hatreds.  He  preached 
in  the  churches  and  in  private  houses,  in  season- 
and  out  of  season,  rebuking  these  inveterate  sin¬ 
ners  in  all  patience  and  doctrine.  The  people  of 
Baeza  yielded  in  the  end,  and  laid  their  unholy 
feuds  aside ;  and  that  Babylon  of  sin  and  disorder 
became,  through  his  preaching,  a  city  of  peace  and 

rest# 

The  venerable  priest  by  whose  ministiy  this 
miracle  was  wrought  established  schools  in  the 
place,  and  made  provision  for  the  teaching  of 
Christian  doctrine.  Moreover,  at  the  request  of 
Don  Rodrigo  Lopez,  chaplain  of  Paul  III.,  he 
undertook  the  charge  of  all  the  schools  in  Baeza, 
including  the  university  then  founded,  for  the 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOH^  OF  THE  CROSS. 


131 


foundation  of  which  Don  Rodrigo  obtained  a  Bull 
from  his  Holiness. 

It  was  a  marvellous  conversion,  and  its  fruits  . 
were  gathered  in  for  more  than  forty  years.  At 
this  time,  when  the  barefooted  friars  of  Carmel 
were  invited  to  Baeza,  the  lay  people  were  said 
to  be  like  ecclesiastics  and  the  ecclesiastics  like 
religious.  The  students  of  the  university  were 
more  like  men  than  boys,  heard  Mass  every  morn¬ 
ing,  on  Fridays  held  conferences  on  Christian 
doctrine,  and  on  Saturdays  visited  the  hospitals, 
nursed  the  sick' and  made  their  beds.  No  one  was 
admitted  to  his  degree  in  that  university  who  had 
i  not,  as  part  of  his  exercises,  spent  some  days  on 

!  the  missions  in  the  country  round  ;  and  the  Uni- 

j  versity  of  Baeza,  in  spite  of  the  learning  of  its 
doctors,  was  commonly  regarded  more  as  a  reli¬ 
gious  community  than  a  gathering  of  students, 
with  their  professors. 

It  was  from  this  place,  in  the  spring  of  1579, 
that  Fra  Angel  de  Salazar,  the  new  superior  of 
the  barefooted  Carmelites,  received  a  request  for 
i  friars.  Fra  Angel,  though  himself  a  friar  of  the 
,  mitigation,  was  always  friendly  to  the  reform;  and 
!  if  he  had  not  been  frightened  by  his  brethren  in 
1582,  the  reform  might  have  been  peaceably  es- 
!  tablished,  for  he  had  once  consented  to  it.  Now 
that  he  was  in  power,  he  exercised  his  authority 
gently,  and  without  any  difficulty,  yielding  to  the 

*  Munoz,  Vida  y  Virtucles  del  Ven.  Juan  de  Avila , 
cap.  20. 


132 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

» 

wishes  of  the  people  of  Baeza,  ordered  St.  John  of 
the  Cross  to  make  the  foundation  there. 

The  saint,  in  obedience  to  the  commandment 
of  his  superior,  went  from  Coren^uela  to  the  old 
house  of  Penuela,  which  had  been  peopled  again  by 
the  friars  after  the  emigration  to  Mount  Calvary. 
The  friars  were  glad  to  recover  their  cherished 
solitude,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  round 
had  begged  them  to  return.  Fra  Francis  of  the 
Conception,  then  confessor  of  the  nuns  in  Malagon, 
was  made  prior  by  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of 
God,  the  house  being  refounded  August  11, 1577. 

From  that  house  he  took  some  of  its  members 
for  the  new  foundation,  and  while  staying  in  it, 
having  obtained  through  the  vicar- general  of 
Jaen  the  sanction  of  the  ordinary  for  the  founda¬ 
tion,  purchased  a  house  for  1800  ducats,  the 
greater  part  of  which  sum  was  furnished  by  Dr. 
Pedro  Roman,  prior  of  the  church  of  Iznato- 
rafe.  All  the  preparations  being  made,  he  re¬ 
turned  to  Mount  Calvary,  and  thence,  with  his 
religious  on  foot  and  fasting,  set  out  for  Baeza— 
all  the  furniture  they  had  being  carried  by  one  ass 
— on  Saturday  in  Whitsun  week,  June  13,  1579. 

They  arrived  in  the  evening,  after  a  journey  of 
nearly  eighteen  miles,  and  made  preparations  for 
the  opening  of  the  house  on  the  following  day. 
The  next  morning,  which  was  Trinity  Sunday,  the 
little  bell  of  the  community,  hung  out  of  a  window, 
was  rung ;  St.  John  of  the  Cross  said  Mass,  and 
took  possession.  Fra  Francis  of  the  Conception, 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


138 


prior  of  Penuela,  and  three  famous  doctors  of  the 
university,  known  in  Paris  and  Salamanca,  Bernar- 
din  de  Carleval,  Diego  Perez  de  Yaldiera,  and 
Pedro  de  Ojeda,  were  present  at  the  ceremony. 

This  house  was  a  college  like  that  founded  in 
Alcala  de  Henares  in  1570,  and  St.  John  of  the 
Cross  was  founder  and  rector.  The  vice-rector 
was  Fra  Juan  of  Jesus,  commonly  called  the  saint, 
who  had  come  from  Penuela  with  his  prior,  Fra 
Francis  of  the  Conception,  the  founder  of  the  col¬ 
lege  in  Alcala  nearly  nine  years  before.  A  saintly 
priest,  Alvaro  Nunez  Marzelo,  who  had  helped 
greatly  in  the  second  foundation  of  Penuela,  came 
to  see  the  friars.  He  wTas  shown  the  house  and 
all  it  contained.  The  altar  of  their  temporary 
church  alone  was  furnished ;  the  whole  house  w*as 
hare ;  and  the  furniture  even  of  the  altar  was  of  the 
poorest  kind  consistent  with  reverence.  He  was 
edified  exceedingly,  and  went  his  way.  But  he 
could  not  drive  out  of  his  thoughts  the  memory 
of  what  he  had  seen,  so  he  sent  some  mattresses 
at  once  to  the  college,  that  the  fathers  might  have 
something  to  sleep  on.  The  messenger  went  with 
his  burden,  and  the  porter  who  opened  the  door 
for  him  told  St.  John  of  the  charity  of  the  4  Padre 
Marzelo.’  The  rector  v^as  most  grateful,  as  he 
always  was  for  the  slightest  kindness  shown  him, 
but  he  would  not  accept  the  gift  of  the  tender¬ 
hearted  priest. 4  The  Carmelites,’  he  said,  'sleep  on 
the  floor  when  well,  and  at  present  there  is  no 
sickness  in  the  house.’ 


134  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  had  come  from  the  pri¬ 
son  in  Toledo,  where  he  had  learned  the  worth  of 
suffering  and  poverty,  from  the  depths  of  which 
God  had  raised  him  to  such  heights  of  prayer  as 
surpass  the  power  of  words  to  describe.  He  had 
seen  and  tasted,  and  would  not  throw  away  the 
heavenly  food,  nor  refuse  it  to  his  brethren  within 
the  measure  of  the  rule.  He  governed  the  house 
and  trained  it  as  he  had  trained  the  others  over 
which  he  had  been  placed — in  silence,  by  prayer 
and  meditation,  and  by  the  strict  observance  of 
the  rule  and  constitutions.  The  doctors  of  the 
university  could  not  refrain  from  the  praise  of  the 
new  house  in  their  public  sermons,  and  the  odour 
of  its  good  name  was  spread  abroad  throughout 
Andalucia.  The  friars  were  hardly  ever  seen  out 
of  their  church ;  only  the  students  went  abroad  to 
the  public  lectures ;  and  these  were  so  recollected 
and  .  so  mortified  as  to  cause  devotion  in  those 
who  saw  them  pass.  Though  the  house  was 
founded  for  the  service  of  the  students,  yet  such 
was  the  order  and  recollection  of  it,  that  novices 
were  admitted  into  it,  and  that  without  any  in¬ 
convenience  whatever  either  to  them  or  to  the 

students. 

As  the  rector  of  the  house,  St.  John  of  the 
Cross  was  compelled  to  unite  the  active  with  the 
contemplative  life  ;  he  had  many  cares  necessarily, 
and  often  had  to  converse  with  seculars  ;  living  as 
lie  was  on  the  alms  of  the  faithful,  he  had  obliga¬ 
tions  to  fulfil  towards  those  who  did  him  good,  and 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


135 


his  very  profession  of  a  mendicant  was  a  law  that 
required  of  him  a  certain  subjection  to  the  impor¬ 
tunities  of  strangers.  In  all  this  he  was  exact ; 
hut  the  silence  of  the  house  was  never  disturbed, 
and  the  religious  were  not  seen  in  the  streets. 
He  commended  his  benefactors  to  the  care  of  God, 
and  served  them  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  in  the 
pulpit  and  the  confessional.  He  would  not  aUow 
that  there  was  any  necessity  for  appearing  abroad ; 
a  religious  outside  his  monastery  being  in  his 
opinion  like  a  fish  out  of  the  water,  on  the  point 
of  spiritual  death.  If  there  was  at  any  time  any 
real  necessity  for  the  procurator’s  going  out,  he 
always  charged  him  to  be  very  careful  not  to  be 
too  pressing,  and  to  abstain  as  much  as  possible 
from  troubling  those  on  the  affairs  of  the  house 
with  whom  they  were  most  familiar. 

It  happened  more  than  once  that  the  friars 
came  to  the  refectory  to  find  nothing  but  empty 
tables;  on  which  St.  John  would  say,  ‘We  may 
return  to  our  cells ;  for  as  we  have  nothing  to  eat, 
it  is  a  proof  that  we  ought  not  to  do  so,  seeing 
that  our  Lord  has  not  provided  for  us.’  But  as 
our  Lord  never  disappoints  those  who  trust  in 
Him,  so  was  it  in  Baeza ;  for  when  the  house  was 
utterly  empty,  there  would  come  men  with  provi¬ 
sions  to  the  gate  of  the  college  sufficient  for  the 
wants  of  all  therein. 

The  year  1580  was  a  year  of  sickness  in  Spain, 
and  the  house  in  Baeza  suffered  like  the  rest.  At 
one  time  there  were  twenty  friars  in  the  infiimaiy 


136  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

— some  of  whom  had  been  sent  thither  from  Mount 
Calvary — and  there  were  neither  beds  for  them  to 
lie  on,  nor  food  to  nourish  them.  The  procurator 
in  his  distress  went  to  the  rector,  and  begged  he 
might  he  allowed  to  go  out  to  seek  help  from  the 
charity  of  the  town.  The  rector  replied  that  he 
longed  himself  for  means  to  relieve  the  sick,  hut 
he  did  not  think  it  was  right  to  he  troublesome  to 
those  outside.  ‘  We  have  our  Lord  in  the  house 
to  help  us,’  he  said;  ‘and  instead  of  wasting  our 
time  in  going  about  the  streets,  let  us  spend  it  in 
the  choir  and  ask  Him  to  help  us,  and  He  will  do 
it.’  The  procurator  had  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
answer,  and  St.  John  wTent  to  the  church  to  pray. 
That  very  night,  and  again  early  the  next  morn¬ 
ing,  some  good  people  sent  twenty  mattresses  and 
much  food  to  the  house,  and  the  sick  were  all 
relieved. 

Some  of  the  friars  said  to  him  one  day,  that 
people  complained  of  him  because  nobody  went  to 
their  houses  for  the  alms  they  had  ready  for  the 
college.  ‘Ah,’  said  he,  ‘if  these  people  really 
mean  to  help  us,  God  wrould  make  them  send  the 
alms  without  being  asked  by  us.’ 

He  disliked  exceedingly  the  too  easy  relations 
of  some  of  the  friars  with  the  world  without ;  and 
he  was  sore  distressed  when  he  heard  that  a  grave 
superior  was  lax  in  his  watchfulness  over  preachers 
and  confessors  wdiom  he  allowed  to  go  out  of  their 
monasteries,  and  to  harden  themselves  with  the 
trifles  which  men  in  the  w’orld  call  business.  On 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  187 

one  occasion  he  was  speaking  of  this  to  Fra  John 
of  St.  Anne,  and  at  last  broke  out  in  the  vehe¬ 
mence  of  his  spirit,  saying,  ‘Look  to  it,  Father 
John,  if  any  man,  even  a  superior,  were  ever  to 
tempt  you  with  enlightened  notions,  even  if  he 
confirmed  them  with  miracles,  do  not  believe  in 
them  or  accept  them,  but  rather  cling  to  penance 
and  detachment  from  all  things;  do  not  seek 
Christ  except  on  the  cross.  He  has  called  us  to 
be  the  barefooted  friars  of  the  Virgin  to  follow 
Him  on  the  cross,  and  not  to  seek  our  own  ease 
and  comfort.  Eemember,  and  do  not  forget  this, 
for  it  is  a  matter  of  grave  importance.’ 

One  day,  at  recreation  with  the  friars,  there 
came  in  one  whose  hood  was  of  finer  cloth  than  is 
usually  worn,  and  some  of  them  took  notice  of  it, 
as  a  breach  of  holy  poverty.  The  friar,  not  seeing 
St.  John,  who  was  in  another  part  of  the  room, 
replied  with  some  confidence  that  a  coarse  habit 
was  not  an  essential  part  of  sanctity.  Alas  for 
his  knowledge  of  theology  !  St.  John  of  the  Cross 
heard  the  unlucky  wrords,  and,  like  another  Elias, 
broke  forth  in  a  storm  of  thunder  upon  his  head. 
He  made  him  know  and  feel  that  the  sanctity  of 
his  vocation  at  least  depended  on  a  coarse  habit ; 
for  he  took  his  fine  hood  from  him,  and  made 
him  put  on  another  worn  and  mended,  that  ho 
might  learn  to  value  what  he  thought  was  of  no 
worth.  ‘  He  who  does  not  love  a  poor  habit  is  not 
worthy  to  wear  it,’  said  the  saint,  ‘and  shows  that 
he  has  not  cleansed  his  soul  of  the  filth  of  the 


138  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

world ;  and  his  religion  is  vain  who,  being  in  con¬ 
science  obliged  to  be  a  religions,  outwardly  resem¬ 
bles  seculars.’ 

His  great  devotion  to  the  Most  Holy  Trinity 
was  observed  now  in  Baeza  by  his  brethren.  The 
nuns  of  Yeas  had  observed  it  before.  He  was 
continually  saying  the  Mass  of  the  Trinity.  They 
asked  him  one  day  why  he  said  that  Mass  so  often ; 
he  answered  pleasantly,  as  if  he  could  thereby  hide 
his  great  devotion,  ‘  I  say  the  Mass  of  the  Most 
Holy  Trinity  because  there  is  no  one  more  holy 
in  heaven.’ 

Saying  Mass  had  become  to  him  now  what  it 
is  to  so  many  saints,  at  once  a  torment  and  a  joy. 
The  inflowing  of  the  divine  communications  was 
so  abundant  and  so  vehement  as  to  overpower 
occasionally  all  resistance  on  his  part ;  the  hum¬ 
ble  and  lowly  servant  of  God,  wdiose  only  wish 
was  to  be  hidden  from  men,  suffered  exceedingly 
when  these  communications  became  known  and 
visible  to  others.  One  day,  while  saying  Mass  in 
Baeza,  all  his  efforts  proved  unavailing ;  for  when 
he  had  drunk  the  Most  Precious  Blood,  and  before 
he  could  replace  the  chalice  on  the  altar,  his  soul 
was  carried  away  by  the  divine  communications, 
and  he  remained  motionless  as  if  dead.  After 
some  time  he  recovered  himself  partially ;  but 
being  still  unconscious  of  the  place  he  w7as  in, 
and  of  the  act  he  had  done,  he  came  down  from 
the  altar,  and  made  for  the  sacristy,  that  he  might 
hide  himself  and  be  alone.  The  people  were 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


139 


amazed,  and  looked  one  to  tlie  other  in  wonder 
and  awe  ;  at  last  a  pious  woman,  Mother  Pefiuela 
— so  was  she  commonly  called — broke  the  silence 
and  cried  out,  ‘  Call  for  the  angels  to  finish  the 
Mass,  the  saint  is  unable  to  go  on ;  for  they  alone 
can  do  it  with  tfye  due  devotion.’  The  friars  in  the 
house  heard  of  what  had  happened,  and  one  of 
them  came  down  into  the  church,  led  the  holy 
man  hack  to  the  altar,  and  helped  him  to  finish 
the  Mass. 

The  nuns  of  Caravaca  were  in  some  trouble, 
and  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  at  the  request  of  St. 
Teresa,  went  thither  to  console  them.  While  there 
the  nuns  saw  rays  of  light  around  him  at  the  altar, 
and  the  prioress,  Mother  Anne  of  St.  Albert,  asked  . 
him  in  the  confessional — whither  she  betook  her¬ 
self  to  be  ready  for  him  as  soon  as  he  had  made 
his  thanksgiving — what  had  happened  to  him  while 
at  the  altar ;  he  replied  that  God  revealed  Himself 
to  his  soul  with  such  force  that  he  could  hardly 
complete  the  sacrifice,  and  that  he  was  occasionally 
afraid  to  say  Mass. 

Dona  Maria  de  la  Paz  thought  the  servant  of 
God  was  a  man  without  much  learning,  grounding 
her  opinion  on  the  simplicity  of  his  speech,  and 
the  absence  of  that  peculiar  pomp  which  men  who 
think  themselves  learned  generally  affect ;  but  she 
never  gave  utterance  to  the  thought.  One  day  she 
went  to  his  confessional,  and  before  she  could 
begin  her  confession,  the  holy  man  said, 


140  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

‘  I  am  a  sinner,  my  child,  that  is  true  ;  but  I 
am  not  ignorant.’ 

‘Why  say  that  to  me,  father?’  ashed  Doha 
Maria. 

‘  Because  you  need  it,’  was  the  answer  of  the 

saint.  * 

The  same  lady  on  another  occasion  was  troubled 

by  some  scruple  or  other,  and  wished  to  go  to  con¬ 
fession  to  one  of  the  friars.  The  brother  to  v/hom 
she  spoke  went  to  the  father  rector  to  ask  for  a 
confessor,  without  saying  a  word  more.  The  saint 
said,  ‘  Tell  her  to  go  home ;  there  is  no  necessity 
for  her  to  go  to  confession.’  The  brother  delivered 
the  message,  and  Doha  Maria  was  amazed. 

On  another  occasion  she  was  in  the  church,  in 
great  trouble,  and  St.  John  of  the  Cross  came  out 
of  his  confessional — around  which  a  considerable 
crowd  was  waiting — and  went  up  to  her,  heaid  her 
confession,  and  sent  her  home  calm  and  tranquil. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Peace  restored  to  tlie  order — Election  of  Fra  J erome — The 
saint  returns  to  Baeza  from  the  chapter — made  Prior 
of  Granada — his  visits  of  ceremony — discourages  beg¬ 
ging — his  charity. 

The  storm  that  threatened  to  destroy  the  Carmel 
of  St.  Teresa  died  away  in  April  1579,  when  St. 
John  of  the  Cross  was  vicar  of  the  house  in 
Coren9uela.  Two  friars,  Fra  John  of  Jesus  and 
Fra  Diego  of  the  Trinity,  chosen  by  St.  Teresa, 
were  sent  to  Home,  to  perfect  the  work  begun  by 
the  Nuncio.  Travelling  in  disguise,  lest  they 
should  fall  into  the  hands  of  their  brethren  of 
the  mitigation,  and  be  thrown  into  prison,  they 
arrived  in  Rome  safely,  and,  notwithstanding  much 
opposition,  obtained  from  Gregory  XIII.  the  se¬ 
paration  of  the  friars  of  the  reform  from  those  of 
the  mitigated  observance.  The  Bull  of  the  Pope 
is  dated  June  22,  1580,  and  was  put  into  execu¬ 
tion  in  the  beginning  of  March  1581,  in  Alcala  de 
Henares,  when  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God 
was,  by  a  majority  of  one,  elected  provincial  of  the 
order  ;  St.  John  of  the  Cross  being  elected  one  of 
the  defmitors. 


142  LIFE  OP  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

The  storm 'from  without  was  over,  hut  the 
storm  from  within  began  to  gather.  Fra  Jerome  s  9 
election  was  brought  about  by  the  influence  of  St.  ■ 
Teresa,  exercised  through  the  president  of  the  1 

chapter,  Fra  Juan  de  las  Cuevas,  prior  of  the  1 

Dominicans  in  Talavera.  Fra  Jerome  was  a  plea-  1 
sant  and  affectionate  man,  unwilling  to  displease  1 

anybody  ';  a  man  of  flowing  and  tender  devotion  ;  1 

but  wanting  in  that  firmness  of  character  which  ■ 

comes  close  to  severity,  because  it  is  just.  He  had 
great  gifts,  and  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
friars  of  the  reform,  singularly  trusted  by  St.  | 
Teresa,  who  had  a  strong  affection  for  him,  though 
she  had  grave  misgivings  all  the  while.  He  had 
all  the  tenderness  of  St.  Teresa,  but  he  had  not 
all  her  strength;  he  was  wise  and  ready  in  the 
affairs  of  the  order,  but  the  common  sense  of  the 
foundress  had  not  been  granted  to  him,  and  so  he 
made  enemies  in  his  house,  out  of  the  very  sin¬ 
cerity  and  simplicity  of  his  heart.  It  is  confessed 
that  he  was  a  most  holy  man,  but  of  an  effusive 
spirit,  active  if  not  restless,  loving  external  work, 
and  disinclined  to  be  alone.  A  great  preacher, 
full  and  flowing,  and  fond  of  the  work,  his  win¬ 
ning  ways  and  graceful  habits  made  him  popular 
in  the  world,  and  in  that  breath  of  applause  that 
followed  he  dilated  and  felt  its  influence.  Then 
the  charm  of  his  manner  was  so  great,  that  hardly 
any  one  could  resist  it,  and  it  nearly  won  over  the 
stern  hearts  of  some  of  his  more  resolute  brethren. 

He  did  good  service  to  his  order,  and  though  he 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


143 


did  it  in  his  own  way,  he  did  it  innocently,  firmly 
believing  that  the  primitive  rule  wThich  he  had 
professed  fully  sanctioned  his  way  of  life. 

St.  Teresa  knew  that  many  of  the  friars  wTere 
unwilling  to  elect  him  as  their  provincial,  and  it 
distressed  her  much ;  but  she  knew  that  his  elec¬ 
tion  wras  then  necessary  for  the  order,  and  so  she 
exerted  all  her  strength  to  secure  it.  She  hoped 
probably  to  supply  that  which  was  wanting  in  Fra 
Jerome  by  the  great  gifts  of  Fra  Nicolas  of  Jesus 
Maria,  the  famous  Doria,  who  had  made  his  pro¬ 
fession  about  a  year  before.  Fra  Nicolas  she 
hoped  to  see  elected  as  the  fellow  of  the  provincial, 
for  his  zeal  and  austerity  would  be  a  check  on  the 
easy  gentleness  of  Fra  Jerome.  She  was  not  dis¬ 
appointed,  for  the  friars  elected  Fra  Nicolas  to  be 
the  fellow  of  the  provincial ;  but  Fra  Jerome,  as  if 
aware  of  the  intentions  of  his  brethren,  and  bent 
on  thwarting  them,  continued  Fra  Nicolas  in  his 
place  as  prior  of  Pastrana.  He  also  made  him 
Provincial-Vicar  of  New  Castille,  and  at  the  same 
time  announced  his  resolution  to  send  him  on 
behalf  of  the  order  to  make  known  to  the  General 
what  had  been  done  in  the  chapter  held  in  Alcala 
de  Henares.  The  friars  believed  that  all  this  was 
done  for  the  purpose  of  releasing  himself  from  the 
vexation  of  being  constantly  watched  by  so  zealous 
a  friar  as  Fra  Nicolas,  and  resented  his  conduct. 
Nevertheless,  it  could  hardly  be  a  matter  of  doubt 
that  Fra  Nicolas,  a  Genoese,  was  the  fittest  man 
in  the  order  to  send  to  Rome,  for  he  was  not  only 


144 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


a  most  able  and  sagacious  man,  but  also  familiar 
with  the  habits  of  those  to  whom  he  was  about  to 
be  sent.* 

Fra  Jerome  disappointed  both  St.  Teresa  and 
the  friars,  and  chose  Fra  Bartholomew  of  Jesus 
for  his  fellow  in  the  enforced  absence  of  Fra 
Nicolas ;  and  it  was  not  a  good  choice.  St. 
Teresa  had  warned  him,  at  least  indirectly,  for 
she  was  afraid  of  that  friar  because  of  his  health, 
and  because  of  the  indulgences  he  required  on 
that  account. 

She  warned  him  on  the  17th  February  1581, 
before  the  chapter  was  held  ;  but  she  returned  to 
the  subject  again  a  month  later ;  and  on  Good 
Friday,  March  24th,  writing  to  Fra  Jerome,  she 
said,  ‘I  should  like  to  know  what  is  become  of 
Fra  Bartholomew;  he  would  make  a  good  prior.’ f 
The  saint  was  too  generous  to  speak  more  openly, 
but  she  did  not  hide  her  fears,  and  Fra  Jerome 
might  have  seen  . that  she  wished  him  to  recognise 
the  danger  of  his  choice.  Unhappily  he  did  not ; 
and  as  Fra  Bartholomew  was  too  much  under  the 
spell  of  the  provincial’s  manner,  Fra  Jerome  was 
never  disturbed,  and  the  complaints  in  the  order 
became  loud  and  strong. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  returned  to  Baeza  from 
the  chapter  ;  but  either  before  he  did  so,  or  im¬ 
mediately  after,  wrote  to  St.  Teresa  to  beg  her  to 
fulfil  a  promise  she  had  made  him,  that  she 

*  Reforma  de  los  Descalcos,  i.  p.  759. 
f  Letters  of  St.  Teresa,  Lett.  820  and  829. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


145 


would  obtain  bis  recall  from  Andalucia  as  soon  as 
the  separation  should  he  accomplished.  The  two 
saints  had  not  seen  one  another  since  they  were 
both  together  in  the  Monastery  of  the  Incarnation 
in  Avila;  so  St.  John  writes  from  Baeza,  July  6, 
1581,  to  Mother  Catherine  of  Jesus  :  4  Since  I  was 
swallowed  up  by  the  whale’  (he  means  his  im¬ 
prisonment  in  Toledo)  ‘and  cast  forth  in  this 
strange  haven,  I  have  never  been  counted  worthy 
to  see  her’  (St.  Teresa)  ‘  or  the  saints  who  are 
there.’  Now  that  the  friars  of  the  reform  were 
under  their  own  provincial,  he  claimed  the  fulfil¬ 
ment  of  the  promise,  and  St.  Teresa  wrote  to  Fra 
Jerome,  on  Good  Friday  of  this  year : 

‘  I  forgot  to  beg  one  thing  of  your  paternity,’  she  said, 
‘  for  my  Easter  cake.  God  grant  you  may  give  it.  You 
must  know  that  some  time  ago,  when  comforting  Fra  John 
of  the  Cross  in  his  distress  at  his  having  to  live  in  Anda¬ 
lucia — he  cannot  bear  its  people — I  told  him  I  should  ask 
for  his  removal  to  Castille,  whenever  God  should  let  us  be 
a  province  by  ourselves.  He  now  claims  the  fulfilment  of 
that  promise,  and  is  afraid  they  will  elect  him  prior  of 
Baeza.  In  Iris  letter  he  asks  me  to  beg  your  paternity 
not  to  confirm  the  election.  If  it  be  possible,  it  is  only 
right  he  should  have  this  comfort,  for  he  has  much  to  bear 
with.  In  fact,  my  father,  I  wish  we  had  but  few  houses 
in  Andalucia,  for  I  believe  they  will  do  harm  to  those  in 
Castille.’* 

The  two  saints  were  by  birth  Castillians,  and 
had  a  certain  natural  dislike  to  the  Andalucians. 
St.  Teresa  went  to  Andalucia  against  her  will,  and 


*  Letter  329. 


L 


146  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

out  of  tiie  foundation  in  Seville,  the  first  made  in 
Andalucia — for  that  of  Yeas  was  not  in  Andalucia, 
though  it  was  in  the  Carmelite  province  of  Anda¬ 
lucia — grew  the  troubles  which  so  nearly  brought 
her  reform  to  an  end.  She  was  never  happy  in 
Andalucia,  and  she  confesses  that  she  was  not  so 
<  weak  and  cowardly’  anywhere  as  she  was  when 
making  the  foundation  in  Seville.* 

Fra  Jerome  was  unable  to  grant  the  grace 
which  St.  Teresa  prayed  for,  and  St.  J ohn  of  the 
Cross  returned  to  Baeza.  In  his  absence  a  lay 
brother  had  fallen  ill,  and  the  rector  of  the  house 
had  sent  him  to  the  public  hospital,  partly  because 
of  the  inconvenience  of  nursing  him  in  the  in¬ 
firmary,  and  partly  because  he  could  be  better  at¬ 
tended  to  there.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  was  greatly 
displeased,  and  severely  rebuked  the  rector.  He 
sent  at  once  to  the  hospital,  and  had  the  lay 
brother  brought  home,  and  attended  to  with  as 
much  care  as  if  he  had  been  the  provincial  of  the 
order  himself. 

He  resigned  the  government  of  the  house 
June  14th.  At  that  time  the  priors  were  in  office 
only  two  years,  and  he  had  entered  on  his  in  July 
1579,  when  the  house  in  Baeza  was  founded.  But 
he  was  not  allowed  to  rest,  for  the  friars  of  Gra¬ 
nada  elected  him  prior,  t 

*  Foundations,  ch.  xxv.  §  1,  p.  176,  English  transla¬ 
tion. 

1  According  to  Fra  Jerome  of  St.  Joseph,  St.  John  of 
the  Cross  was  elected  prior  of  Granada  14th  June  1581. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  147 

In  Granada  he  succeeded  one  of  his  own  no¬ 
vices  of  Pastrana,  Fra  Augustin  of  the  Kings, 
who  had  remembered  the  lessons  of  his  master. 
Fra  Augustin  lived  and  died  as  a  saint,  and  after 
his  death  his  body  saw  no  corruption.  Earnest, 
simple,  and  fervent,  he  governed  his  house  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  rule  and  constitutions;  and  St. 
John  had  no  changes  to  make,  nor  fallen  discipline 
to  restore.  The  religious  were  docile  and  fervent, 
and  the  order  of  the  house  was  exact. 

The  province  was  very  large,  too  large  for  one 
visitor ;  so  the  provincial,  Fra  J erome,  chose  three 
vicars  to  help  him.  To  Fra  Nicolas  of  Jesu3 
Maria  he  gave  New  Castille ;  to  Fra  Antonio  of 
Jesus,  Old  Castille ;  and  Andalucia  to  Fra  Diego 
of  the  Trinity.  The  latter  came  down  to  Granada 
to  make  his  visitation,  and  the  only  thing  he 
found  fault  with  was  the  great  retirement  in  which 
the  fathers  lived;  the  prior  was  never  seen  out¬ 
side  his  monastery,  and  the  visitor  thought  he 


And  Fra  Antonio  of  St.  Joseph,  in  a  note  to  Lett.  31,  vol.  iii. 
of  the  Letters  of  St.  Teresa ,  quotes  the  order  of  Fra  Diego 
of  the  Trinity  for  the  foundation  in  Granada,  in  which 
Fra  Diego,  Nov.  13,  1581,  describes  St.  John  of  the  Cross 
as  rector  of  the  College  of  St.  Basil  in  Baeza.  Fra 
Francis  of  Santa  Maria,  the  chronicler  of  the  order,  says, 
vol.  i.  p.  428,  that  according  to  the  register  of  Granada,  St. 
John  was  made  prior  there  the  first  time  in  1582;  in  p.  827 
he  speaks  of  him  as  prior  of  Granada  when  he  was  in 
Veas,  in  October  1581 ;  and  1582  is  no  doubt  a  misprint,  for 
in  the  second  volume  of  the  Chronicles,  p.  40,  he  says  that 
he  became  prior  of  Granada  in  1581. . 


148 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


showed  a  want  of  due  consideration  for  the  friends 
and  benefactors  of  the  order.  Indeed,  some  of 
the  friars  themselves  had  more  than  once  hinted 
to  the  prior  that  he  might  return  some  of  the  visits 
which  the  great  people  of  the  city  had  made,  and 
continued  to  make. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross,  having  learnt  the  wishes 
of  his  superior,  the  visitor,  gave  up  his  own 
opinion ;  and  it  being  Christmas  time,  made  up 
his  mind  to  call  upon  the  archbishop  and  the 
president  of  the  chancery.  As  the  house  of  the 
latter  was  the  nearer  of  the  two  to  the  monastery, 
he  called  there  first,  having  one  of  his  friars  with 
him.  The  president  received  him  with  the  utmost 
respect  and  courtesy;  for  the  saint,  if  not  seen 
outside  the  monastery,  was  well  known  in. the  city. 
St.  John,  after  the  usual  salutations,  with  great 
humility  begged  the  president  to  excuse  him  for 
his  past  negligence.  The  president,  in  answer, 
said  that  there  was  nothing  to  he  excused;  'for  we 
like,  father  prior,  to  see  you  and  your  religious  in 
your  own  houses  rather  than  in  ours ;  in  xhe  first 
you  edify  us,  in  the  latter  you  entertain  us.’  The 
servant  of  God  took  his  leave  as  quickly  as  he 
could ;  and  without  making  his  visit  to  the  arch¬ 
bishop,  returned  to  the  monastery,  saying  to  his 
companion,  ‘  This  man  has  put  us  and  the  whole 
order  to  shame  ;  I  wish  we  had  all  of  us  heard 
him,  that  we  might  be  convinced  how  little  we 
gain  by  this  folly  of  making  visits,  which  is  a 
custom  brought  in  by  Satan  under  the  cloak  of 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  TIIE  CROSS.  149 

necessity.’  In  the  house  he  told  the  community 
what  had  happened;  and  then  added,  ‘My  fathers, 
you  cannot  have  a  more  trustworthy  proof  of  what 
people  in  the  world  ask  of  us  than  this  given  by 
one  of  them ;  they  do  not  want  us  as  courtiers,  but 
as  saints ;  and  that  not  in  their  own  houses,  but 
in  ours,  praying  to  God  on  their  behalf.’ 

His  religious  on  the  whole,  no  doubt  agreeing 
with  him,  were  yet  tempted  from  time  to  time  to 
urge  upon  him  certain  maxims  of  prudence  and 
discretion,  which  they  regarded  as  eminently  safe. 
They  were  not  ’Wholly  weaned  from  the  breasts  of 
worldly  wisdom,  and  would  ask  leave  occasionally 
to  pay  certain  visits  which  in  their  judgment  were 
demanded  of  them  by  Christian  charity  and  con¬ 
sideration  for  others,  never  for  their  own  pleasure. 
He  answered  by  asking  them  wherein  a  religious 
differed  from  people'  in  the  world  if  he  must  still 
do  what  they  do.  ‘If  the  world,’  he  said,  ‘has 
brought  in  this  custom  of  paying  visits,  our  busi¬ 
ness  is  to  act  otherwise,  because  we  are  under 
another  -  law.’  He  was  always  unyielding  in 
this  matter,  afraid  that  the  spirit  of  prayer 
would  evaporate  in  the  houses  of  people  in  the 
world. 

One  day  a  certain  personage  in  Granada  tried 
to  move  him  from  his  course ;  he  urged  upon  him 
the  advantage  of  calling  on  some  wealthy  persons, 
who  would  then  give  him  abundant  alms,  where¬ 
with  he  might  complete  the  building  of  the  monas¬ 
tery.  The  servant  of  God  replied  :  ‘  These  people 


150  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

will  give  their  alms  either  for  my  sake  or  for  the 
sake  of  God ;  if  the  latter,  there  is  no  reason  why 
I  should  press  them ;  if  for  my  sake,  I  see  no  rea¬ 
son  why  i  should  trouble  them  to  give  away  their 

goods  for  so  poor  an  end.  . 

One  night  after  compline,  Fra  Augustin  ol  bt. 
Joseph,  the  procurator,  came  to  him,  and  having 
told  him  there  was  nothing  in  the  house  for  the 
next  day,  asked  leave  to  beg  for  the  necessary  food. 

‘  Well,’  said  the  saint,  4  God' has  plenty  of  time  to 
provide  for  us,  we  need  not  he  in  such  a  hurry  to 
make  Him  a  defaulter;  we  have  had  our  supper; 
and  He  who  gave  us  our  supper  to-night  will  give 
us  our  dinner  to-morrow.’  The  procurator  with¬ 
drew,  hut  the  next  morning  came  hack  with  the 
same  request,  and  begged  to  he  allowed  to  seek 
relief  from  those  without  who  could  grant  it.  The 
servant  of  God  would  not  listen  to  him,  notwith¬ 
standing  his  importunity  and  the  distress  he  was 
in.  The  saint  had  put  his  whole  trust  in  God,  and 
was  not  put  to  shame ;  for  while  the  friars  were 
saying  Prime,  there  came  a  man  to  the  gate  who 
asked  the  porter  what  it  was  the  religious  were  m 
wTant  of;  he  had  been  unable  to  sleep  the  whole 
night  because  of  an  interior  voice  which  said : 

‘  Thou  art  at  ease,  and  the  friars  in  the  Monastery 
of  the  Martyrs  are  in  want.’  The  porter  told  him 
that  there  was  no  food  in  the  house,  and  the  good 
man  immediately  supplied  it. 

Another  day,  another  procurator,  Fra  John  of 
the  Evangelist,  begged  leave  to  go  out  for  food, 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


151 


i 


there  being  none  in  the  house.  The  saint  as 
usual  refused ;  the  request  was  made  again  some 
time  later,  and  the  saint  replied,  ‘  Only  one  day ; 
shall  we  never  he  patient  ?  Go  to  your  cell  and 
pray.’  The  procurator  went  again  and  made  the 
same  request,  saying  that  the  matter  was  pressing, 
because  some  of  the  friars  were  ill  and  required 
food.  The  saint  hade  him  return,  saying  that  he 
had  very  little  trust  in  God,  for  his  duty  was  to 
obtain  succour  for  the  house  by  prayer  in  his  cell. 
The  procurator  went  away  with  a  heavy  heart,  but 
he  soon  came  back,  unable  to  bear  the  distress  he 
was  in,  and  said  to  the  saint,  ‘ Father,  this  seems 
to  be  a  tempting  of  God,  who  will  have  us  do  our 
utmost  in  our  necessities  ;  let  me  go  out  to  beg.’ 
The  saint  smiled  and  replied,  ‘Well,  then,  you  may 
go ;  but  you  will  be  put  to  shame.’  The  procura¬ 
tor  went  out,  and  immediately  met  an  officer  of  the 
Chancery  coming  to  the  house  with  a  good  sum  of 
money,  a  fine  inflicted  by  the  court  and  given  to 
the  friars  in  alms. 

Fra  John  of  the  Evangelist,  having  received 
the  alms,  went  to  the  rector  and  told  him  how  he 
had  fared.  The  servant  of  God  showed  no  sign 
either  of  pleasure  or  displeasure,  but  said  to  the 
procurator,  who  was  very  much  ashamed  of 
himself,  that  the  alms  would  have  given  him  more 
satisfaction  if  he  had  waited  in  his  cell.  ‘  Learn 
from  this,’  he  said,  *  that  we  are  to  live  in  poverty, 
and  that  the  relief  thereof  is  to  come,  not  from 
our  industry,  but  from  our  trust  in  God.  Let  us 


152  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

be  really  poor,  for  the  religious  who  cast  all  their 
care  upon  God  will  never  be  in  want.’ 

These  lessons  seem  to  have  been  forgotten  from 
time  to  time,  for  on  another  occasion  when  the 
house  was  without  food  the  procurator  went  in 
search  of  the  servant  of  God,  and  found  him  in 
the  church.  He  was  hearing  the  confession  of  one 
of  the  great  ladies  of  Granada,  great  also  in  her 
piety  and  goodness,  Doha  Juana  de  Pera^a.  The 
procurator  interrupted  the  confession  to  tell  the 
saint  that  he  had  no  food  and  no  money  to  buy  it. 
The  saint  told  him  that  the  way  to  get  food  was  to 
withdraw  into  his  cell,  and  there  obtain  it  from 
God  by  the  hands  of  the  faithful.  The  procura¬ 
tor  went  away ;  but  harassed  by  his  anxieties  re¬ 
turned,  and  asked  leave  to  go  out  to  beg  ;  receiv¬ 
ing  no  answer  from  the  saint,  he  repeated  his 
request.  Then  the  saint  said :  ‘  My  brother,  do 
not  trouble  yourself;  I  do  not  wish  you  to  go  out, 
neither  is  it  necessary.’  Doha  Juana  in  the  con¬ 
fessional  heard  all  that  passed,  and  asked  the  saint 
why  he  would  not  let  the  procurator  go  out,  seeing 
that  there  was  no  other  way  of  providing  for  the 
house.  The  saint  answered  that  he  could  not  let 
him  go  because  there  was  a  person  coming  to  the 
monastery  with  alms.  Doha  Juana  soon  after  left 
the  church,  and  on  her  way  home  met  a  stranger 
who  asked  her  if  the  prior  was  in  the  Monastery 
of  the  Martyrs.  Doha  Juana  told  her,  and  then 
asked  her  why  she  wished  to  know ;  the  stranger 
replied  that  she  was  a  suitor  in  the  Chancery,  and 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


153 


was  going  to  the  monastery  with  alms  for  Masses 
to  obtain  the  help  of  God  in  her  necessities. 
Doha  Jnana  went  home  wondering ;  she  believed 
that  the  servant  of  God  had  seen  the  woman  in  a 
trance  into  which  he  fell  while  she  was  in  the 
confessional. 

The  saint,  though  he  hated  begging,  lived  on 
alms,  and  cherished  his  poverty  as  a  special  grace 
from  God.  In  populous  and  wealthy  places,  how¬ 
ever,  such  as  Baeza  and  Granada,  he  would  allow 
two  of  the  brothers  to  go  out  twice  in  the  week, 
Wednesday  and  Saturday,  to  beg  alms  at  the 
doors  of  houses,  hut  it  was  done  to  keep  people 
from  saying  that  the  houses  he  governed  were  fed 
by  miracle.*  He  had  given  up  the  world;  he  made 
his  profession  as  a  poor  friar  of  our  Lady  of  Car¬ 
mel,  and  the  rest  of  his  life  was  spent  in  unceasing 
efforts  to  keep  that  profession  pure  and  undefiled. 
He  trusted  in  God;  he  was  His  servant  in  His 
house,  and  ha  knew  that  the  Master  would  provide 
for  His  household.  But  if  he  was  thus  hard  with 
the  procurators  of  little  faith,  he  was  never  hard 
with  any  one  in  need.  He  would  go  into  the 
infirmary  himself,  and  give  their  food  and  medi¬ 
cine  to  the  sick.  Once  when  a  lay  brother  was  very 
ill,  and  the  physicians  promised  him  only  a  little 
relief  from  a  most  expensive  remedy,  the  saint, 
notwithstanding  the  poverty  of  the  house,  ordered 
that  relief  to  he  given  at  whatever  cost. 

*  Joseph  de  Jesus  Maria,  Historia ,  p.  211. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


Anne  of  Jesus— The  saint  founds  a  house  in  Granada— is 
insulted  in  the  street— watches  over  the  novices  under 
Anne  of  Jesus. 

The  people  of  Granada,  edified  by  the  friars,  wished 
to  have  the  nuns  of  the  new  Carmel  in  the  city, 
and  some  of  the  chief  personages  in  it,  especially 
two  auditors  of  the  Chancery,  the  Licentiate  La¬ 
guna,  who  died  Bishop  pf  Cordova,  and  Don  Luis 
de  Mercado,  afterwards  a  member  of  the  Supreme 
Council  of  Castille,  and  a  priest  in  1591,  pressed 
the  matter  upon  Fra  Diego  of  the  Trinity,  pro¬ 
vincial  vicar  of  Andalucia.  The  vicar .  gave  his 
consent,  and  when  making  his  visitation  of  the 
monastery  of  the  nuns  in  Yeas,  in  the  month  of 
October  1581,  made  the  matter  known  to  the  Ven¬ 
erable  Anne  of  Jesus,  lately  made  prioress  of  that 

house. 

On  the  18th  of  November,  Fra  Diego  ordered 
St.  John  of  the  Cross,  then  in  Yeas,  to  go  to  Avila, 
where  St.  Teresa  was  staying,  and  bring  her  to 
Granada,  with  the  care  and  consideration  ‘befitting 
her  person  and  her  years.’  *  St.  John  saw  the 
Mother  of  Carmel  there  for  the  first  time  since  his 

*  Lettevs  of  St.  Tevcsci,  Lett.  363  ;  note  of  Fra  Antonio 
of  St.  Joseph,  p.  7,  vol.  iii.  Lett.  31. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


155 


imprisonment  in  Toledo,  but  she  could  not  go  to 
Granada,  because  she  was  about  to  make  a  foun¬ 
dation  in  Burgos.  The  two  saints  were  as  poor  as 
they  well  could  be,  for  on  the  29th  November  1581, 
the  day  on  which  she  sent  the  nuns  from  Avila  to 
Yeas,  for  the  foundation  in  Granada,  she  wrote 
thus  to  the  Father  Provincial,  whowTas  also  in  dis¬ 
tress  in  Salamanca : 

‘  Fra  John  of  the  Cross  wished  very  much  to  send  you 
some  money,  and  fully  counted  on  it,  if  he  could  spare  a  part 
of  that  which  had  been  given  him  for  his  journey,  hut  he 
could  not.  I  think  he  will  try  to  send  you  some.  Anto¬ 
nio  Ruiz  .  .  .  has  give  me  four  scudi  for  you  :  I  am  waiting 
for  the  means  of  sending  them  on.  It  is  as  much  as  I  can 
do  not  to  keep  them  myself,  for  as  matters  are  at  present 
I  should  not  be  surprised  if  I  were  tempted  to  steal.’* 

St.  John  returned  to  Yeas  with  two  nuns  from 
Aila,  and  another  from  Toledo,  on  the  Feast  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  and  there  the  nuns  re¬ 
mained  till  the  middle  of  January.  On  Monday, 
January  15th,  1582,  the  Yenerable  Anne  of  Jesus, 
with  her  nuns,  attended  by  St.  John  of  the  Cross 
and  Fra  Pedro  of  the  Angels,  set  out  from  Yeas, 
in  the  cold  of  winter,  at  three  o’clock  in  the  morn¬ 
ing.  The  company  consisted  of  ten  nuns,  two  of 
them  were  lay  sisters  from  Yillanueva,  and  while 
they  were  on  the  road,  an  alderman  of  the  city, 
who  had  let  them  his  house,  broke  the  promise  he 
had  made,  saying  that  he  did  not  know  it  had  been 
taken  for  the  use  of  nuns  ;  he  would  not  let  them 
have  it. 


*  Letter  3G3. 


156 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

It  was  too  late  to  stop  tlie  nuns  who  were  on 
the  road,  and  there  was  no  house  to  he  had  in  which 
they  could  he  lodged  even  for  a  time.  Their  friends 
were  therefore  in  the  greatest  trouble,  not  know¬ 
ing  what  to  do,  besides  they  had  not  obtained,  and 
could  not  obtain,  the  consent  of  the  archbishop 
to  make  the  foundation,  and  he  was  resolved  to 

have  no  more  nuns  in  the  city. 

Now  there  was  in  Granada  a  penitent  of -St. 
John  of  the  Cross,  Doha  Ana  de  Penalosa,  a  widow 
who  lived  in  great  retirement,  mourning  the  loss 
of  her  husband  and  an  only  daughter.  She  dwelt 
in  a  good  house,  with  her  brother,  Don  Luis  de 
Mercado,  who  was  one  of  the  chief  persons  who 
had  urged  the  foundation,  and  on  whom  now 
pressed  the  whole  charge  of  the  nuns.  Don  Luis 
said  to  his  sister,  ‘  The  nuns  are  on  the  road,  and 
it  would  be  well  if  they  could  come  here  till  they 
can  find  a  house.’  Dona  Ana,  knowing  nothing  oi 
her  brother’s  trouble,  not  only  gave  her  consent, 
but  busied  herself  in  making  the  necessary  ar¬ 
rangements,  especially  in  furnishing  a  room  to  be 
used  as  a  chapel.  At  three  o’clock  on  the  morning 
of  Saturday,  January  20th,  1582,  the  two  friars, 
with  the  nuns,  came  to  the  door,  and  there  stood 

Dona  Ana  ready  to  receive  them. 

Anne  of  Jesus,  of  whom  St.  Teresa  had  just 
written  that  she  ‘would  have  everything  under 
her  own  control,’*  took  possession  of  the  house,  as 
if  it  were  her  own,  and  began  with  the  nuns  to 
*  Letters  of  St.  Teresa,  Lett.  363,  Nov.  20, 1581. 


LIFE  OF  St.  JOIIN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


157 


sing  Lauclate  Dominion.  She  then  ordered  the 
doors  to  be  shut,  and  would  not  let  any  of  the  friars, 
not  even  the  vicar  of  the  province,  who  was  pre¬ 
sent,  say  Mass  before  she  communicated  with  the 
archbishop. 

St.John  of  the  Cross,  thus  dismissed  with  the 
provincial  vicar,  returned  to  his  own  house,  and 
left  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  Venerable  Anne 
of  Jesus;  but  he  had  afterwards  to  supply  her  with 
food  and  many  necessary  things  ;  for  it  happened 
here,  as  in  other  places,  that  wealthy  and  generous 
benefactors  of  the  Carmelites  never  observed  the 
distress  they  were  in.  The  people  of  the  city  also, 
seeing  daily  crowds  of  the  poor  relieved  at  her  door, 
never  suspected,  any  more  than  Dona  Ana  did  her¬ 
self,  that  the  ten  nuns  within  were  in  distress. 
St.  Teresa  was  left  in  want  of  food  by  her  friend, 
Doha  Luisa  de  la  Cerda,  and  again  in  Seville, 
though  her  friends  were  rich  and  many.  Doha 
Ana  saw  the  nuns  always  contented  and  cheerful, 
and  never  suspecting  that  they  were  hiding  their 
needs  from  her,  left  them  in  sore  distress,  so  that 
St.  John  of  the  Cross,  out  of  his  poverty,  had  to 
come  to  their  help. 

Soon  after  this  the  servant  of  God,  coming  out 
from  his  monastery,  was  met  in  the  street  by  a 
woman  with  a  child  in  her  arms.  She  held  out  the 
child  before  him,  and  asked  him  to  maintain  it,  for 
it  was  his  own.  The  holy  man  bade  her  begone, 
but  she  persisted  in  following  him.  At  last  he 
.  stopped,  for  a  crowd  was  gathering,  and  calmly 


158  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

asked  her  who  was  the  mother  of  the  child.  The 
wretched  woman  answered  it  was  a  great  lady  in 
Granada,  against  whom  nothing  could  he  said,  for 
nobody  knew  any  evil  of  her.  ‘  How  long  has  she 
lived  in  Granada?5  asked  the  saint.  The  ansvei 
was  that  she  was  born  in  the  place,  and  had  never 
been  half  a  league  away  from  it  all  her  life.  ‘  How 
old  is  the  child  ?’  asked  the  saint.  The  woman 
answered,  1  About  twelve  months.  c  Ah,  says 
the  saint,  ‘  it  is  a  grand  miracle,  for  I  have  not 
been  a  year  in  Granada  yet,  and  in  the  wrhole 
course  of  my  life  have  never  been  within  many 
leagues  of  it.’  The  people  who  had  gathered 
around  laughed,  and  then  hooted  the  woman, 
though  they  were  ready  to  hoot  the  saint  a  minute 
before,  while  the  man  of  God  went  calmly  on  his 
way  perfectly  undisturbed. 

At  this  time,  in  addition  to  the  government  of 
his  own  house  and  the  care  of  many  penitents  who 
came  to  him,  he  had  to  watch  and  encourage  the 
nuns  in  the  new  foundation,  begun,  as  usual,  in 
complete  poverty.  Many  religious  of  all  the  orders 
in  the  city,  and  devout  people  of  great  prudence 
living  in  the  world,  visited  the  nuns  from  time  to 
time,  and  the  sum  of  their  conversation  was  the 
rashness  of  beginning  the  foundation  in  such 
poverty  and  utter  absence  of  human  comforts. 
The  Venerable  Anne  of  Jesus  was  a  child  of  St. 
Teresa,  and  a  penitent  of  St.  J ohn  of  the  Cross, 
so  she  remained  unmoved  by  such  wisdom  as  this. 

After  waiting  for  seven  months  the  nuns  found 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


159 


a  house,  and  meanwhile  more  than  two  hundred 
persons  sought  admission  into  the  community. 
In  all  that  number,  however,  Anne  of  Jesus  says, 
in  her  account  of  the  foundation,  there  was  not 
one  whom  she  could  accept.  Some  of  them  she 
refused  at  once,  and  others  she  recommended  to 
study  their  way  of  life,  promising  to  try  them  as 
soon  as  she  found  a  house  of  her  own.  She  ac¬ 
cepted  six  novices  at  last,  whom  St.  John  of  the 
Cross  watched  over,  and  instructed  in  the  way  of 
prayer  and  perfect  detachment  from  all  created 
things. 

Some  of  the  novices  grew  alarmed  at  the 
severities  of  their  new  life,  and  were  tempted  to 
leave  the  monastery.  One  of  these  made  up  her 
mind  to  depart;  the  life  was  so  hard  and  the 
temptation  so  strong.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  saw 
her  trials,  and  knowing  also  how  long  the  tempta¬ 
tion  would  last,  said  to  her  one  day,  *1  do  not 
wish  to  persuade  you  to  take  the  veil,  but  I  ask 
you  to  consider  yourself  as  being  in  prison  on 
account  of  your  sins  for  the  next  two  months,  and 
then  you  can  go.’  The  novice  went  her  way  re¬ 
joicing,  thinking  that  she  could  well  bear  her  pain 
for  two  months,  if  then  it  should  he  over ;  hut 
when  the  two  months  had  passed  by,  and  the  day 
of  her  departure  was  come,  she  found  herself  un¬ 
able  to  go  ;  she  had  changed  her  mind,  and  begged 
to  remain.  She  made  her  profession  in  due  time, 
and  never  forgot  how  much  she  owed  to  the  wise 
counsel  of  her  confessor. 


160  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

Another  novice  kept  secret  from  the  prioress 
and  the  other  nuns  the  resolution  she  had  formed 
to  quit  the  monastery.  She,  however,  did  not  hide 
it  from  St.  John ;  hut  he  laughed  at  her,  and  said 
that  she  did  not  know  her  own  mind.  Some  time 
after  she  was  attacked  hy  a  disease  which  was  re¬ 
garded  as  incurable,  and  then  in  her  distress  she 
went  to  the  saint  and  told  him  she  was  afraid  the 
nuns  would  simply  keep  her  in  the  monastery  out 
of  charity,  hut  would  never  suffer  her  to  make  her 
profession.  The  saint  asked  her  what  had  become 
of  her  purpose  to  return  to  the  world.  She  had 
even  forgotten  that  she  ever  had  such  a  purpose, 
and  now  had  no  wish  to  leave.  The  saint  hade 
her  he  of  good  cheer ;  as  the  temptation,  so  the  ill¬ 
ness  passed  away,  and  the  novice  was  professed. 


CHAPTER  XTTT. 


/ 


« 


Troubles  in  the  order — Fra  Nicolas  of  Jesus  Maria — Chap¬ 
ter  of  Almodovar — The  saint  opposes  foreign  missions 
—  Famine  —  Writings  of  the  saint  —  Foundation  in 
Malaga — Restoration  of  a  nun  to  health  —  Mary  of 
Christ. 

The  death  of  St.  Teresa,  October  4, 1582,  brought 
out  into  clearer  light  the  discontent  of  the  friars, 
who,  disliking  the  gentle  ways  of  Fra  Jerome  of 
the  Mother  of  God,  their  provincial,  persuaded 
themselves  that  he  was  a  source  of  disorder  and 
of  laxity,  and  that  regular  observance  was  failing 
under  his  rule.  While  St.  Teresa  lived,  the  mur- 
murings  of  the  fathers  were  not  loud,  but  they 
were  not  unknown  to  her ;  and  now  that  her  de¬ 
parture  had  come,  the  friars  felt  themselves  free, 
and  made  their  grave  apprehensions  public.  The 
provincial  was  so  tender-hearted  that  he  could 
scarcely  be  persuaded  to  visit  any  of  his  subjects 
with  chastisement,  and  that  grave  defect  was  not 
counterbalanced  by  watchfulness  in  hindering  dis¬ 
orders  which  might  need  correction.  He  was  un¬ 
willing  to  refuse  any  man  anything,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  friars  wished  to  be  ruled  with  a 

M 


162  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

strong  hand  and  a  resolute  will.  St.  Teresa,  not¬ 
withstanding  her  marvellous  affection  for .  Fra 
Jerome,  was  not  blind  to  these  shortcomings. 
About  a  month  before  her  death  she  wrote  a  long 
letter  to  him  :  4  You  have  great  need  of  Fra 
Nicolas’  (Fra  Jerome  had  sent  him  to  Eome),  4  for 
I  think  it  impossible  for  you  to  do  all  the  work 
yourself.’  She  then  goes  on,  and  it  must  have 
cost  her  much  to  say  it :  4  Fra  J uan  de  las  Cuevas 
thinks  so  too.  ...  He  says  you  are  going  against 
the  regulations  that  have  been  made  in  not  choos¬ 
ing  another  fellow— I  do  not  remember  if  he  said 
with  the  consent  of  the  priors — and  that  he  thought 
it  was  not  possible  for  you  to  do  all  that  ought  to 
he  done ;  that  Moses  had  I  know  not  how  many 
to  aid  him.  To  this  I  answered,  that  you  could 
not  help  it ;  you  could  hardly  find  friars  enough 
to  he  priors.  His  answer  was,  that  your  having 
a  fellow  was  the  chief  thing.’  4  Since  I  came 
here,  to  Yalladolid,  I  have  heard  that  you  are 
accused  of  being  unwilling  to  have  any  friar  of 
weight  near  you.  I  know  the  reason  is  that  you 
cannot  help  it ;  but  as  the  chapter  is  near  at  hand 
now,  I  wish  they  had  nothing  to  say  against  you. 
Look  to  this  for  the  love  of  God,  and  consider  how 

you  preach  in  Andalucia.  * 

The  chapter  of  which  the  great  saint  spoke 

was  held  in  Almodovar  on  the  1st  of  May  in  the 
following  year,  1588.  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  as 
prior  of  Granada,  was  present.  Fra  Nicolas  of 
*  Lett.  400,  Sept.  1,  1582. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


168 


Jesus  Maria  had  returned  from  Italy,  whither  he 
had  been  sent  to  give  the  General  an  account  of 
the  new  province  of  the  barefooted  friars.  He 
was  one  of  those  who  disliked  the  government  of 
Fra  Jerome  because  of  its  ease  and  the  risks  of 
laxity  involved  in  it. 

Fra  Nicolas  of  Jesus  Maria  was  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  in  the  order,  and  St. 
Teresa  herself  held  him  in  great  respect,  though 
she  did  not  like  him  as  she  liked  Fra  Jerome.  She 
wished  very  much  that  the  two  friars  were  friends, 
and  did  all  she  could  not  only  to  keep  the  peace 
between  them,  but  also  to  make  them  respect  and 
cherish  each  other.*  Fra  Nicolas  was  a  man  of 
strong  will,  perhaps  stern,  certainly  unbending, 
*  while  Fra  Jerome  was  soft  and  tender,  unable  to 
resist.  Each  had  great  gifts,  but  they  were  not 
the  same ;  and  now,  St.  Teresa  being  dead,  the  two 
friars  came  together,  and  there  was  no  one  to  make 
peace  between  them. 

Fra  Nicolas,  on  his  way  to  Almodovar,  travelled 
on  foot  for  the  most  part,  with  an  ass  to  carry  his 
and  his  fellowvs  mantle.  In  the  inn  at  Toledo, 
where  they  rested  for  the  night,  they  "were  over¬ 
taken  by  Fra  Jerome  with  his  fellow,  Fra  Gregorio, 
each  on  a  mule  well  caparisoned.  Fra  Nicolas  did 
not  like  the  sight,  so  he  said  to  the  provincial,  as 
if  in  jest,  but  really  in  serious  earnest,  ‘How  came 
your  paternity  and  your  fellow  to  break  the  rule 
so  lately  made  by  yourself,  that  we  are  not  to  use 
*  Lett.  244,  July  7,  1579. 


164  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CSOSS. 

saddles  ?’  The  provincial  answered  in  the  only  way 
possible  for  him,  he  made  a  change  in  the  saddle ; 
but  Fra  Nicolas  was  not  satisfied ;  and  the  pro¬ 
vincial  at  last,  with  his  fellow,  had  his  mule  brought 
down  to  the  poor  state  of  the  wretched  ass,  whic 

Fra  Nicolas  led  on  the  way.  „ 

Ao'ain,  there  was  more  trouble  on  the  road  ;  for 
when°they  arrived  in  Malagon,  the  nuns  there,  to 
do  honour  to  their  friars,  and  especially  to  their 
provincial,  entertained  them  in  their  monastery, 
and  gave  them  a  dinner  which  Fra  Nicolas  regarded 
as  wholly  unbecoming  the  profession  of  poverty  m 
Carmel.  He  looked  at  the  fat  capons  and  the 
partridges,  with  other  meats  of  the  like  nature,  and 
then,  unable  to  restrain  himself,  he  cried  out,  ‘  Are 
we,  my  fathers,  going  into  chapter  for  the  reform 
of  the  order,  and  eating  food  like  this?  b  or  myparu 
I  shall  have  something  else,  if  I  can  get  it ;  let  who 
will  eat  meat,  I  will  not.’  The  friars  were  made 
ashamed,  and  many  of  them  withdrew  from  the 

This  was  not  a  good  preparation  for  the  chapter. 
The  more  austere  friars  were  dissatisfied  with  Fra 
Jerome,  and  turned  their  eyes  towards  Fra  Nicolas 
as  the  true  guardian  of  the  reform,  which  they  fully 
believed  to  be  in  great  danger  in  the  hands  of  Fra 

Jerome.  _  .  _  ^  , 

The  chapter  assembled  on  the  third  Sunday 

after  Easter,  May  1,  1588,  and  having  elected  the 

four  definitors,  discussed  the  election  of  the  priors. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  wished  the  election  to  be 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 


165 


made  in  the  monasteries,  and  not  in  the  provincial 
chapter,  but  the  chapter  decided  against  him,  and 
keeping  the  rule  it  had  made,  elected  him  once 
more  prior  of  Granada.  The  provincial  proposed 
new  foreign  missions,  hut  St.  John  of  the  Cross 
spoke  very  strongly  against  the  proposal,  and  re¬ 
minded  the  fathers  of  the  duties  of  prayer  and 
retirement,  which  were  theirs  in  a  special  way; 
there  were  other  orders,  he  said,  to  undertake  the 
missions,  for  which  they  were  fitted,  and  for  which 
they  might  be  said  to  have  been  founded.  The 
reform  of  Carmel  was  founded  for  another  purpose, 
and  would  be  endangered  if  it  did  not  keep  its  own 
rule  and  foster  the  spirit  thereof.  The  friars  were 
bound  not  to  go  abroad,  but  to  remain  at  home  in 
their  cells,  meditating  day  and  night  in  the  law  of 
God,  seeking  their  own  sanctification,  and  striving 
after  perfection.  Charity  towards  our  neighbours, 
he  said,  must  be  directed  by  the  law  of  life  under 
which  we  are  living ;  for  if  it  were  not,  nothing 
would  come  of  it  but  confusion  and  the  ruin  of  the 
order. 

Fra  Jerome,  the  provincial,  had  set  his  heart 
on  the  foreign  missions,  and  was  marvellously 
given  to  external  work,  preaching  everywhere,  and 
even  lecturing.  He  did  not  think  as  St.  John  of 
the  Cross  did,  so  he  answered  the  saint ;  and  in  the 
end  his  judgment  prevailed. 

Before  he  left  Almodovar,  the  servant  of  God 
took  an  opportunity  ot  speaking  privately  to  the 
provincial  oithe  danger  he  feared  from  his  govern- 


158  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

meat  of  the  order.  In  the  chapter  itself  this 
matter  had  been  already  entertained,  and  even  the 
deposition  of  the  provincial  had  been  spoken  of  a 
a  possible  necessity.  St.  John  now,  fearless  in  his 
charity,  represented  in  all  humility,  as  a  su  j 
should,  the  great  need  there  was  of  certain  changes 
end  of  greater  strictness.  Too  much  heed  was 
civen  to  the  revelations  and  visions  of  nuns  too 
much  license  in  going  abroad  to  preach  and  hear 
confessions,  and  then  too  much  indulgence,  made 
perhaps  necessary,  to  those  who  were  wearied  by 
work  which  was  not  really  the  work  of  a  friar  of 
the  reform.  The  servant  of  God  delivered  his  own 
soul,  and  having  done  so  went  his  way,  but  with 
a  heavy  heart. 

The  next  year,  1584,  was  a  year  of  sore  dis¬ 
tress  and  famine  in  Spain,  especially  m  Andalucia. 
The  people  from  the  country  around  flocked 
into  Granada,  the  wealthy  city,  asking  for  the 
bread  which  they  could  not  find  at  home.  St. 
John,  like  his  Master,  had  compassion  on  the 
multitude  struggling  with  hunger,  and  thoug 
living  upon  alms  himself,  and  with  a  large  house¬ 
hold  to  maintain,  gave  alms  abundantly  out  of  the 
riches  of  his  poverty.  In  the  first  place,  he *  em¬ 
ployed  as  many  men  as  he  could,  on  the  building 
of  the  monastery,  which  he  carried  on  during 
famine,  and  with  the  money  he  received  from  the 
charitable  he  bought  all  the  corn  lie  could,  an 
charged  the  porter  at  the  gate  to  distribute  t  to 
the  poor,  and  never  to  send  any  one  emp  y  -y- 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  167 

Tlie  more  he  relieved,  the  more  came  from  all 
quarters  of  the  city  for  relief,  and  at  last  many 
even  of  the  noble  families  confided  to  the  saint 
their  state  of  helpless  destitution.  St.  John’s 
heart  was  full  of  tenderness  for  those  who  were 
ashamed  to  beg.  These  also  he  relieved,  and  even 
maintained,  by  means  of  two  lay  brothers  whom 
he  sent  out  with  the  necessary  succours ;  but  he 
himself  dwelt  within  his  monastery,  in  his  cell  in 
prayer  and  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  in  the 
community. 

Though  he  ministered  to  the  wants  of  so  many, 
he  did  not  neglect  the  friars ;  he  provided  for 
them  as  if  there  had  been  no  famine  in  the  land  ; 
while  to  human  eyes  all  the  resources  of  the  house 
were  at  the  service  of  the  multitudinous  poor,  who 
but  for  his  help  and  trust  in  God  would  have  died 
of  hunger  in  the  streets. 

The  great  meekness  of  the  saint  was  now 
tested  in  Granada.  He  had  to  correct  one  of  the 
friars  for  some  fault  or  other,  and  did  so  in  his 
accustomed  way,  very  seriously  bu£  very  tenderly. 
The  poor  friar  utterly  forgot  himself,  and  instead 
of  receiving  his  correction  meekly,  burst  out  in  a 
flood  of  angry  and  unseemly  language,  and  even 
reviled  his  superior.  The  servant  of  God  did  not 
check  him,  but  threw  himself  on  the  ground,  and 
remained  prostrate  while  the  friar’s  anger  lasted, 
and  then  rising,  addressed  him  as  he  should  have 
addressed  his  superior,  saying,  ‘For  the  love  of 
God,’  and  went  away.  The  friar’s  eyes  were  then 


168 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


opened  to  the  extravagance  of  his  fault,  and  with 
recovered  senses  went  and  threw  himself  at  his 
father’s  feet,  confessing  his  wrong,  and  thanking 
him  for  having  borne  so  patiently  with  him  in  his 
waywardness. 

He  was  at  this  time  writing  the  explanation  of 
the  spiritual  canticle  Adonde  Te  escondiste ,  com¬ 
posed  in  the  prison  in  which  the  friars  of  the  miti¬ 
gation  held  him  in  Toledo.  We  owe  this  service 
to  the  Venerable  Anne  of  Jesus,  whose  importuni¬ 
ties  overcame  the  saint’s  reluctance  to  write.  At 
the  same  time  he  occupied  himself,  at  the  urgent 
request  of  his  penitent.  Dona  Ana  de  Penalosa,  in 
writing  his  explanation  of  another  of  his  hymns, 
and  the  most  wonderful  of  them  all  perhaps,  O 
Llama  de  amor  viva.  He  yielded  to  the  request  of 
Dona  Ana  with  some  reluctance,  because  the 
hymn  is  of  matters  so  interior  and  spiritual  as  to 
he  beyond  the  compass  of  human  speech.  He 
wrote  after  earnest  prayer,  and  without  help  from 
any  hooks  whatever,  and  very  slowly,  lest  he 
should  he  carried  away  and  make  his  work  the 
expression  of  mere  human  wisdom  rather  than 
that  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  work  is  never  hur¬ 
ried. 

In  December  of  this  year,  1584,  the  provincial, 
Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God,  sanctioned  the 
foundation  of  a  monastery  of  nuns  in  Malaga, 
where  the  friars  had  established  themselves  about 
six  months  before.  Fra  Jerome  could  not  go  to 
Malaga  himself,  so  he  sent  St.  John  of  the  Cross, 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CK0SS.  169 

who  was  at  the  time  vicar  provincial  of  Andalucia, 
as  well  as  prior  of  Granada.  When  the  order  of 
the  provincial  was  brought  to  St.  John,  the  latter 
was  in  constant  attendance  on  the  Sister  Isabel  of 
the  Incarnation,  believed  to  be  in  her  last  illness. 
The  servant  of  God  was  therefore  troubled,  for  he 
must  leave  his  penitent  in  the  day  of  her  greatest 
distiess  because  of  the  order  of  the  provincial. 
Ixe  betook  himself  to  prayer,  and  while  so  employed 
vas  sent  for  to  the  sick  nun,  whom  the  physician 
believed  to  be  at  the  point  of  death.  The  saint 
went  to  her  at  once,  and  having  heard  her  confes¬ 
sion  gave  her  the  last  sacraments.  But  suddenly 
inspired  of  God,  he  began  to  read  the  Gospel  of 
St.  Mark,  and  when  he  came  to  the  wTords,  *  upon 
the  sick  they  shall  lay  their  hands/  he  laid  his 
hands  on  the  sister  who  was  in  her  agony,  and  the 
sickness  departed  from  her.  The  next  day  she 
left  her  bed,  the  physicians  confessing  that  her 
healing  was  miraculous. 

He  now  set  out  on  his  journey  to  Malaga, 
with  the  nuns  who  were  to  be  the  founders  of  the 
house  there.  Mary  of  Christ,  the  prioress,  had  a 
grievous  fall,  which  rendered  her  unconscious  ;  the 
nuns  around  her  seeing  the  blood  flow  abundantly 
from  her  head,  while  she  gave  no  signs  of  life, 
began  to  bemoan  her  as  one  who  was  dead*  Mean¬ 
while,  the  servant  of  God  came  up  to  them,  and 
laid  his  hand  on  the  wound ;  the  sister  rose  up, 
and  went  on  her  way  with  the  others,  as  if  no  ac¬ 
cident  had  taken  place. 


170 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

• 

They  arrived  in  Malaga,  seven  nuns,  one  of 
them  being  Antonia  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  in 
1562  was  with  St.  Teresa  when  she  founded  the 
house  of  St.  Joseph  in  Avila;  and  on  the  17th  o 
February  1584  the  new  monastery  was  founded, 
St.  John  of  the  Cross  saying  the  first  Mass. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


The  saint  in  the  chapter  of  Lisbon — Election  of  a  new 
provincial — Prophecy  of  the  saint — Mary  of  the  Visi¬ 
tation — The  ..saint  made  vicar  of  Andalucia — corrects 
certain  abuses. 

The  provincial,  being  in  Lisbon  at  this  time,  sum¬ 
moned  the  chapter  to  meet  there  for  the  election 
of  his  successor.  On  May  10,  1585,  the  priors  and 
their  fellows  arrived  in  Lisbon,  and  the  next  morn¬ 
ing,  Saturday,  May  11,  the  provincial,  Fra  Jerome 
of  the  Mother  of  God,  was  elected  the  first  defini- 
tor  ;  the  second  definitor  was  St.  John  of  the  Cross ; 
the  third,  Fra  Antonio  of  Jesus,  at  that  time  prior 
of  Seville ;  but  he  begged  to  be  excused  on  account 
of  his  health,  and  his  place  was  filled  by  the  prior 
of  Malaga,  Fra  John  of  the  Baptist,  who  became 
the  fourth  definitor,  the  third  being  the  prior  of 
Valladolid,  Fra  Gregory  of  Nazianzum. 

There  was  no  question  about  the  reelection  of 
Fra  Jerome  as  provincial,  and  he  had  to  propose 
his  own  successor.  He  knew  there  was  no  one  in 
the  order,  of  one  mind  with  him,  whom  the  fathers 
would  accept  as  their  provincial;  and  he  knew 
too  that  his  successor,  because  of  the  differences 


172 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


that  had  grown  up,  would  put  an  end  to  much 
that  he  had  established  himself.  Fra  Jerome 
was  honest,  and  faithful  to  his  trust,  and  proposed 
as  his  successor  the  only  friar  in  the  order  who 
could  in  any  way  he  regarded  as  his  rival  or  his 
opponent.  This  was  Fra  Nicolas  of  Jesus  Maria, 
then  absent  in  Genoa,  founding  a  house  of  the 
order  there. 

Of  the  thirty  priors  and  their  fellows  who  came 
to  the  chapter,  two  were  not  duly  accredited,  and 
thus  the  election  was  made  by  twenty-eight  voices. 
Of  these,  twenty-six  were  given  to  Fra  Nicolas, 
the  others  were  given  to  Fra  Mariano  of  St.  Bene¬ 
dict  and  Fra  Alonso  of  the  Angels.  The  election 
thus  made,  nearly  with  one  consent,  was,  no  doubt, 
in  unison  with  the  wishes  of  the  order  generally  ; 
hut  it  was  the  beginning  also  of  a  great  strife,  and 
St.  John  of  the  Cross  said,  ‘  The  provincial  has 
elected  the  man  who  will  drive  him  out  of  the 
order.’  The  prophecy  was  fulfilled,  if  prophecy  it 
was,  for  some  have  said  that  human  sagacity  alone 
wTas  enough  to  discern  the  ruin  of  Fra  Jerome 
through  the  fiery  zeal  of  Fra  Nicolas.  The  saint, 
however,  lived  to  see  only  the  preparations  for  the 
expulsion  of  Fra  Jerome,  who  continued  for  nearly 
three  months  in  the  order  after  the  servant  of  God 
had  gone  to  his  rest. 

But  if  he  did  not  speak  in  the  spirit  of  pro¬ 
phecy  when  he  foretold  the  issues  of  this  election, 
his  great  gift  in  the  discerning  of  spirits  was  re¬ 
vealed  again  on  this  occasion.  There  was  at  this 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  173 

time  in  Lisbon  a  nun  whose  fame  was  spread 
abroad,  and  whose  sanctity  was  taken  for  granted. 
Her  raptures,  her  colloquies  with  our  Lord,  and 
the  shining  of  her  face  filled  people  with  wonder, 
and  the  multitude  of  those,  learned  and' unlearned, 
who  were  deceived  has  never  been  counted.  Mary 
of  tne  Visitation  that  was  her  name  in  religion — 
was  prioress  of  the  Monastery  of  the  Annunciation, 
of  the  oidei  of  St.  Dominic  in  Lisbon,  and  became 
an  object  of  curiosity,  at  least,  to  the  Carmelite 
Lia^a  who  had  come  together  for  the  general 
chapter ;  all  of  whom  except  St.  John  of  the  Cross 
went  to  see  her,  and  came  away,  as  all  the  world 
had  done,  fully  persuaded  of  her  supernatural 
state.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  never  went  near 
her,  and  one  day  Fra  Augustin  of  the  Kings 
asked  him  to  go  with  him  to  visit  the  famous 
nun.  The  servant  of  God  refused ;  ‘  for  why  should 
he  go,’  he  said,  ‘to  see  a  woman  who  is  full  of 
delusion  ?  Let  us  not  speak  of  her  \  God  will  scon 
make  her  wickedness  known.’  Even  before  this 
time  the  wretched  state  of  that  nun  had  been 
revealed  to  St.  John  of  the  Cross  j  for  on  one 
occasion,  when  he  was  in  Castille,  Fra  Bartholo¬ 
mew  of  St.  Basil  showed  him  a  small  bottle,  hold¬ 
ing  some  of  the  water  which  the  nun  was  in  the 
habit  of  blessing.  The  servant  of  God,  unable  to 
control  himself  when  he  saw  so  saintly  a  man  as 
Fra  Bartholomew  treating  with  respect  that  which 
was  worthy  ox  none,  took  the  bottle  out  of  his 
hand,  and  threw  the  water  away.  Yet  he  was 


174  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

habitually  most  cautious  in  bis  treatment  of  all 
persons  whatever  who  were  religious,  and  careful 
of  their  good  name.  Soon  afterwards  the  inquisitors 
of  Lisbon  took  the  nun  into  their  care,  and  after 
diligently  examining  her,  discovered  the  fraud. 
The  poor  nun  wTas  not  only  deluded  herself,  but 
was  also  deliberately  deluding  others. 

The  absence  of  the  new  provincial  rendered  it 
impossible  for  the  chapter  to  discuss  the  affairs  oi 
the  order ;  accordingly,  as  soon  as  they  had  done 
all  that  was  necessary  for  the  validity  of  the  elec¬ 
tion,  they  sent  two  of  their  brethren  to  Genoa,  to 
announce  it  to  Fra  Nicolas  of  Jesus  Maria. .  The 
deputies  reached  Genoa  on  July  7,  and  in  the 
beginning  of  October  1585  Fra  Nicolas  returned 
to  Spain.  He  reassembled  the  chapter  at  once, 
and  the  friars,  October  17,  met  in  Pastrana.  .  The 
chapter  divided  the  province  into  four  vicariates, 
to  be  governed  by  the  four  definitors  elected  in 
Lisbon ;  that  of  Andalucia  was  given  to  St.  John 
of  the  Cross,  while  the  former  provincial,  Fra 
Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God,  who  had  not  yet 
left  Lisbon,  was  intrusted  with  the  government 

of  the  vicariate  of  Portugal. 

These  vicars  had  more  authority  now  than 
they  had  under  Fra  Jerome,  for  they  were  ap¬ 
pointed  in  the  chapter  and  by  it ;  whereas,  for¬ 
merly,  the  vicars  of  Fra  Jerome  were  merely  his 
delegates,  and  remained  in  office  only  so  long  as  it 
pleased  him  to  retain  them.  Under  Fra  Nicolas 
the  government  was  stronger,  and  the  law  more 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


175 


carefully  observed ;  the  growing  laxness  was  cor¬ 
rected,  and  men  were  brought  back  under  his  rigid 
and  unbending  rule  to  the  primitive  customs  which 
had  their  beginnings  in  Duruelo  and  Pastrana. 
St.  John  of  the  Cross  was  not  less  zealous  than 
the  provincial,  though  less  austere,  more  gentle 
with  others,  but  not  less  an  enemy  of  all  laxity. 

From  the  chapter  in  Pastrana  he  returned  to 
Granada,  charged  with  the  care  of  thirteen  monas¬ 
teries,  seven  of  men  and  six  of  women.  These 
he  visited  regularly  and  diligently,  inquiring  into 
everything  most  minutely,  and  correcting  with  all 
charity  anything  he  found  amiss.  It  w^as  impos¬ 
sible  to  resist  him,  for  he  lived  in  every  house  he 
visited  as  the  least  of  his  brethren,  sitting  in  the 
lowest  place,  and  taking  his  own  only  in  the  public 
duties  of  the  house  and  choir.  He  never  allowed 
the  friars  to  minister  to  him  apart  from  the  others, 
notwithstanding  his  office,  and  he  w7as  always  with 
the  community,  as  one  of  the  house.  He  went 
over  the  whole  monastery,  and  never  left  anything 
unvisited;  but  he  was  specially  attentive  to  the 
sick.  He  did  the  work  of  the  house  too  as  if  he 
were  a  member  of  it,  waited  at  table  in  the  refec¬ 
tory  in  his  turn,  heard  confessions  and  preached, 
and  a  stranger  could  not  have  distinguished  the 
vicar  of  the  provincial  from  the  other  friars  of  the 
house. 

His  example  of  perfect  humility  moved  the 
hearts  of  men,  and  he  had  no  difficulty  in  com¬ 
manding,  for  the  obedience  of  his  children  was 


176 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


prompt ;  tho  most  stubborn  had  not  the  heart  to 
resist  when  tlie  vicar  was  so  detached  from  self. 
Some  murmurs  may  perhaps  have  been  heard, 
coming  from  those  who  had  come  to  like  their 
ease,  but  they  were  soon  hushed ;  for  none  could 
withstand  a  visitor  who  read  in  the  refectory, 
made  the  beds  of  the  sick  in  the  infirmary,  washed 
the  feet  of  the  guests,  and  went  to  the  garden 

with  the  novices  to  dig. 

There  was  one  abuse  which  had  crept  in,  by 
degrees  and  day  by  day,  under  the  rule  of  the 
late  provincial.  The  preachers  of  the  order, 
popular  and  learned  men,  had  persuaded  Fra 
Jerome  and  themselves  that  what  they  were 
doing  for  souls  was  a  great  work,  before  which, 
the  less  important  work  of  keeping  the  rule  ought 
to  give  way.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  did  not  under¬ 
stand  matters  as  they  did ;  so  he  at  once  resolutely 
set  his  face  against  these  practices,  which  had  be¬ 
come  too  common.  In  Lent  and  Advent  the  iriars, 
given  to  preaching,  spent  half  their  time  out  of 
the  monastery,  not  to  their  own  spiritual  gain,  and 
to  the  scandal  of  people  in  the  world.  They  were 
absent  from  choir,  for  they  must  study  in  order  to 
preach,  and  they  obtained  dispensation  from  the 
fasts  of  the  order  if  not  from  those  of  the  Church, 
and  from  the  abstinence  from  fieshmeat,  because 
they  must  keep  their  bodily  strength.  Thus  one 
good  work  destroyed  another,  and  men  gave  up 
their  own  duties  in  order  to  discharge  duties 
which  were  not  theirs.  The  servant  of  God  did 


177 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

not  think  as  they  did,  for  in  his  eyes  the  first 
duty  of  the  friars  was  to  keep  the  rub.  As  he 
never  listened  to  those  doctrines  of  charity  which 
tended  to  confusion,  so  he  insisted  upon  having 
everything  in  its  place.  The  friars  must  first  of 
all  discharge  the  duties  laid  upon  them  by  their 
religious  profession;  for  unless  these  were  dis¬ 
charged  faithfully,  there  could  be  no  progress  of 
the  soul  in  goodness,  nor  security  for  any  good 

work,  and  the  vocation  itself  would  be  in  danger 
of  being  lost.  '  8 

While  travelling  from  one  monastery  to  an¬ 
other,  he  never  went  out  of  his  way  to  see  any- 
t  ing  curious.  Continually  in  the  presence  of  God, 
he  was  either  silent  in  prayer  or  conversing  with 
his  fellow  of  the  things  of  heaven ;  sometimes, 
like  St.  "VVulstan  of  Worcester,  he  would  even 
chant  the  psalms  aloud.  While  making  his  visi¬ 
tations,  on  arriving  at  a  monastery  he  went  straight 
to  the  church  to  pray  before  the  Most  Holy,  and 
then  to  the  infirmary  to  see  the  sick,  if  any  sick 
were  there.  One  night  after  Compline,  when  the 
law  of  silence  prevails,  he  arrived  at  a  house  very 
late.  At  the  door  the  prior  and  all  the  religious 
stood  to  receive  him,  and,  in  making  manifest  their 
joy  at  seeing  him,  broke  the  silence ;  he  looked 
reproachfully  at  them,  and  went  straight  to  his 
cell,  without  uttering  a  word.  If  he  was  strict 
with  others,  he  was  strict  also  with  himself. 

,  tllis  time  he  received  in  Granada  a  visit 
irom  the  provincial  of  an  order,  a  man  of  oreat 

n 


\ 


N 


178  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

consideration  for  his  office  sake,  and  also  for  his  dis¬ 
tinguished  birth.  The  servant  of  God  must,  for 
some  grave  reasons,  depart  from  his  usual  habit, 
and  visit  in  return  the  provincial,  who  had  so 
honoured  him.  After  some  conversation,  the  latter 
asked  the  saint  how  he  liked  his  monastery,  which 
was  outside  the  city. 

‘  Well  enough,’  answered  the  servant  of  God ; 

<  for  it  is  a  lonely  place,  and  I  like  solitude.’ 

The  provincial  then  said,  ‘  Your  reverence 
must  be  the  son  of  a  farmer  to  like  the  country  so 
much.’ 

f  Ah,  most  reverend  father,  I  am  not  so  much 
as  that;  my  father  was  a  poor  weaver,’  was  the 
answer  of  the  servant  of  God,  true  child  of  St. 
Teresa,  who,  when  she  heard  that  Fra  Jerome  of 
the  Mother  of  God  had  been  searching  into  her 
pedigree  on  one  occasion  in  Avila,  said  to  him,  in 
some  displeasure,  that  it  was  enough  for  her  to  be 
a  child  of  the  Church,  and  that  it  distressed  her 
more  to  have  fallen  into  one  venial  sin  than  it 
could  do  to  be  the  daughter  of  the  lowest  of  the 
people.*  Fra  Diego  of  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament, 
who  wTas  with  the  saint,  and  present  at  the  time, 
said  that  all  who  heard  the  conversation  looked  at 
one  another  with  amazement.  They  were  pained 
at  the  vanity  of  the  provincial,  who  had  left  the 
world,  and  wondered  at  the  humility  of  the  poor 
Carmelite.  On  another  occasion,  some  of  his  friars 
told  some  people  with  whom  they  were  conversing 
°  Reforma  de  los  Descalgos,  i.  p.  17. 


179 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

that  St.  John  of  the  Cross  had  been  prior  of  a 
certain  monastery;  hut  he,  overhearing  the  words, 
and  afraid  that  his  brethren  were  boasting,  turned 
round,  and  said,  ‘I  was  also  cook  there.’ 

God  gave  him  light  to  enable  him  to  discharge 
his  duties  in  a  very  wonderful  way,  as  if  in  re¬ 
ward  of  his  great  diligence  in  his  work.  On  his 
return  from  one  of  his  visitations,  he  found  Fra 
Alonso  of  the  Mother  of  God,  the  master  of  no¬ 
vices  in  Granada,  in  great  distress  of  mind.  Fra 
Alonso  was  so  overcome  by  spiritual  dryness  and 
interior  darkness,  that  he  thought  he  ought  to 
give  himself  up  to  the  inquisitors;  but  before 
doing  so  he  laid  bare  the  state  of  his  soul  before 
the  vicar  of  the  province,  St.  John  of  the  Cross. 
The  servant  of  God,  when  he  had  listened  to  his 
story,  smiled,  and  said,  ‘Go,  you  silly  one;  all 
that  is  nothing;’  and  Fra  Alonso  went  his  way, 
with  a  mind  perfectly  at  rest. 

Two  novices  had  been  received  in  the  house 
during  his  absence;  one  a  priest,  the  other  a 
deacon.  The  servant  of  God  went  to  see  them  in 
the  novitiate ;  and  on  coming  out  told  the  master 
that  the  deacon  would  give  them  much  trouble, 
and  at  last  leave  the  order.  The  prophecy  was 

fulfilled  in  due  time,  for  the  friars  took  the  habit 
from  him. 

On  another  occasion,  on  his  return  to  the  house, 
the  fathers  asked  him  to  admit  a  novice,  of  good 
family  and  great  learning.  The  servant  of  God  was 
most  unwilling  to  do  so,  and  warned  the  fathers 


180  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

of  the  consequences.  The  prior  and  the  com¬ 
munity  thought  they  were  in  some  way  hound  to 
admit  him,  and  did  so  \  hut  soon  after,  his  wife 
and  two  children  came  to  the  monastery  in  quest 
of  the  novice,  who  had  abandoned  them,  and  the 
fathers  were  obliged  to  send  him  away. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Foundation  in  Segovia — The  saint  in  Caravaca — visits 
Penuela  —  founds  a  monastery  in  Cordova  —  visits 
Seville  Miraculous  escape  —  Fra  Martin  and  the 
novices— Anne  of  Jesus  goes  to  Madrid— Bujalance— 
Caravaca. 

Dona  Ana  de  Mercado  y  Pehalosa,  the  penitent 
of  the  saint,  was  a  widow,  and  having  now  to 
fulfil  the  testamentary  dispositions  of  her  husband, 
Don  Juan  de  Guevara,  who  had  charged  her  to 
found  either  a  hospital  or  a  monastery  in  Segovia, 
the  place  of  his  birth,  took  the  advice  of  her  con¬ 
fessor,  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  and,  with  the  full 
consent  of  her  brother,  Don  Luis,  auditor  of  the 
Chancery  of  Granada,  offered  the  provincial  to 
found  a  monastery  of  the  friars  of  the  reform  of 
Carmel.  The  provincial  accepted  the  foundation, 
and  finding  St.  John  of  the  Cross  disliked  enter¬ 
ing  the  vicariate  of  Castille,  within  which  Segovia 
lay,  he  ordered  the  vicar,  Era  Gregorio  Nazianzen, 
to  establish  the  house.  Era  Gregorio  executed  his 
commission,  and  took  possession  May  3,  1586. 
Meanwhile  the  servant  of  God  was  on  his  visita¬ 
tion,  and  early  in  the  year,  at  Caravaca,  where 


182  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

a  saintly  penitent  of  his,  the  Mother  Anne  of  St. 
Albert,  was  prioress,  to  whom  St.  Teresa  herse 
had  given  the  habit.  Mother  Anne  spoke  to  him  of 
the  loss  it  was  to  the  community  that  there  were 
no  friars  of  Carmel  in  Caravaca.  The  servant  of 
God  replied,  ‘  Why  do  you  not  bring  them  here  ?’ 
Mother  Anne  smiled,  for  she  knew  how  difficult  it 
was,  and  how  much  beyond  her  strength.  St. 
John  then  bade  her  be  of  good  courage,  to  pray  to 
our  Lord,  and  make  the  community  also  pray, 
promising  to  do  the  same  himself.  He  knew  that 
the  time  was  come ;  and  he  had  had  a  revelation 
when  prior  of  Baeza  that  a  monastery  of  friars  was 

to  be  founded  in  Caravaca. 

He  then  left  the  mother  prioress,  and,  having 
vested  himself,  proceeded  to  say  Mass.  As  soon 
as  he  had  ascended  the  steps  of  the  altar,  the 
prioress  saw  a  light  around  the  servant  of  God, 
which  became  more  and  more  brilliant  as  he  went 
on  with  the  Mass.  At  first  it  seemed  to  issue 
forth  out  of  the  tabernacle,  after  the  consecration 
from  the  Sacred  Host ;  and  the  priest  in  the  midst 
of  it  seemed  to  shine  as  a  most  clear  sun.  The 
Mass  lasted  very  long,  but  it  was  a  wonderful  joy 
to  all  the  nuns,  whose  tears  flowed  in  the  sweet¬ 
ness  which  it  brought  them. 

When  the  servant  of  God  had  made  his  thanks¬ 
giving,  he  was  called  to  the  confessional,  where  he 
found  the  mother  prioress  waiting  for  him,  more, 
liowever,  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  his  confession 
than  of  making  her  own. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS.  183 

Father,  she  asked,  ‘  why  was  the  Mass  so 
long  ?’ 

The  servant  of  God  asked  her  how  Ions  it 
lasted.  ‘  B 

‘  When  we  taste  divine  things  a  long  time 
seems  but  short.  Perhaps  you  had  a  vision,’  said 
the  prioress. 

I  saw,  replied  the  saint,  c  what  you,  too,  have 
been  allowed  to  see.’ 

I  should  like  to  know,’  was  the  answer  of  the 
prioress ;  ‘  for  what  I  saw  must  have  been  very 
little.  At  least,  it  hindered  you  in  the  saying  of 
the  Mass,  for  you  were  a  long  time  at  the  altar.’ 

‘  So  it  was,  child,’  said  the  saint.  And  then 
there  was  a  silence;  for  he  fell*  into  a  trance. 
But  when  he  returned  to  himself,  he  said,  ‘  God 
showed  great  things  to  me,  a  sinner,  and  that  in 

such  majesty  that  I  was  unable  to  go  on  with  the 
Mass.’ 

The  mother  prioress  still  insisted,  and  asked 
for  more  information ;  and  then  the  saint,  over¬ 
come  by  her  importunity,  said,  ‘  My  soul  is  now 
so  full  of  heavenly  consolations  that  I  dare  not  be 
alone  and  recollected ;  they  are  too  much  for  my 
strength.  Now  and  then  I  refrain  from  saying 
Mass,  for  I  am  afraid  that  something  marvellous 
will  take  place.  I  have  asked  our  Lord  to  give 
me  more  strength,  or  to  take  me  away,  but  that 
will  not  be  while  I  have  the  care  of  souls.’  The 
servant  of  God  had  prayed  that  he  might  not  die 
while  holding  any  office  in  the  order. 


184 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN*  OF  THE  CROSS. 


Dona  Ana  de  Penalosa  was  now  making  her 
preparations  for  the  foundation  to  be  made  in 
Segovia,  wTriting  from  time  to  time  to  the  vicar 
provincial  in  Caravaca.  One  day,  the  saint  hav¬ 
ing  written  a  letter  to  Dona  Ana,  and  not  ha\ing 
the  means  of  sealing  it,  gave  it  to  the  mother  prior¬ 
ess,  and  begged  her  to  seal  it,  and  send  it.  Anne 
of  St.  Albert  took  the  letter,  and  even  read  it.  The 
next  day  another  letter  was  brought  from  Doha 
Ana  for  the  vicar  provincial,  and  the  messenger 
waited  for  the  answer.  Having  read  the  letter,  he 
gave  it  to  the  mother  prioress— for  it  concerned 
her  also — and  told  her  there  was  no  necessity  for 
writing ;  the  letter  written  the  day  before  was  a 
sufficient  answer.  When  the  prioress  had  read 
the  letter  from  Doha  Ana,  she  understood  why 
the  saint  would  not  write ;  he  had  written  a  full 
answer  to  all  her  difficulties  the  day  before  when  he 
could  have  known  them  by  no  natural  means. 

About  the  middle  of  February  of  this  year, 
1586,  he  left  Caravaca  for  Pehuela,  the  house  of 
strict  observance  and  austerity.  He  remained 
there  during  Lent,  going  to  Linares  three  times 
every  week,  on  foot,  to  preach,  returning  in  the 
same  way,  not  accepting  even  food  in  tne  city. 
Fra  Marco  of  St.  Francis  thinks  that  he  undertook 
this  work  on  behalf  of  one  of  the  fathers  of 
Pehuela,  who  was  hindered  in  some  way  from  do¬ 
ing  it  himself  ;  for  it  was  much  against  his  will 
to  be  seen  anywhere  in  public,  unless  occupied 
m  the  duties  of  his  state. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  185 

From  Peiiuela  he  went  to  Cordova,  where  a 
house  was  offered  him  for  a  monastery,  and  he 
gladly  took  possession  of  it  May  18,  1586,  the 
Sunday  after  the  Ascension.  Having  placed  it 
under  the  rule  of  his  novice  in  Pastrana,  Fra 
Augustin  of  the  Kings,  as  prior,  he  went  to 
Seville.  There  he  found  that  the  fathers  were  too 
often  and  too  long  out  of  their  monastery,  es¬ 
pecially  during  Lent  and  Advent.  The  excuse 
for  this  was  preaching,  but  the  servant  of  God 
would  not  accept  it ;  so  he  ordered  matters  other¬ 
wise,*  and  the  rule  he  made  is  the  groundwork  of 
that  which  was  afterwards  embodied  in  the  consti¬ 
tutions  of  the  order,  f 

The  nuns  in  Seville  were  lodged  in  an  unfitting 
place  ;  and  St.  Teresa  herself  had  not  been  able  to 
find  a  house  for  them  according  to  her  desires. 
But  now,  in  the  beginning  of  June  1586,  they 
had  found  a  better  house,  and  the  vicar  of  the 
province  settled  them  in  their  new  dwelling. 
Among  the  nuns,  and  but  lately  professed,  was  a 
sister  of  the  late  provincial,  Fra  Jerome,  a  nun  of 
great  gifts  and  saintly  life.  Sister  Juliana  of  the 
Mother  of  God  was  not  ignorant  of  the  difference 
between  her  brother  and  the  provincial,  Fra 
Nicolas,  and  therefore  not  without  fear  for  the 
future.  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  spoke  to  her  and 
consoled  her,  exhorting  her  to  perseverance,  and 

*  See  below,  cli.  xix. 
f  Be  forma  cle  los  Descnlcos,  ii.  p.  313. 


186 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


bidding  her  be  of  courage,  so  as  to  stand  firm 
when  the  storm  should  burst. 

From  Seville  the  saint  returned  to  Cordova,  to 
see  the  progress  of  the  new  foundation,  which  was 
very  great,  and  for  which  he  gave  God  thanks. 
The  friars  were  held  in  great  reverence  by  the 
people ;  but  he,  in  that  clearness  of  vision  which 
humility  gives,  detected  a  spirit  among  his  bre¬ 
thren,  hateful  in  itself,  which  he  hated  with  his 
whole  heart :  they  wished  to  stand  well  with  the 
world,  for  the  greater  glory  of  God. 

One  day,  a  friar  in  his  sermon  spoke  of  the 
gratitude  of  the  community  to  the  people  of  Cor¬ 
dova  for  their  generous  support  of  the  monastery ; 
his  language  was  oratorical  and  somewhat  extra¬ 
vagant;  and  it  brought  down  upon  himself,  and 
the  whole  house,  the  sharp  reprehensions  of  the 
saint.  The  servant  of  God  was  full  of  gratitude  to 
all  men  who  rendered  the  slightest  service;  never¬ 
theless,  he  spoke  with  some  severity  to  the  friars, 
and  charged  them  on  no  account  whatever  to  say 
anything  of  the  affairs  of  the  house  when  handling 
the  words  of  truth.  In  doing  so,  they  would  be 
probably  praising  themselves  indirectly;  and  that 
must  be  avoided,  because  unbecoming  the  sim¬ 
plicity  and  sincerity  which  should  be  the  dis¬ 
tinctive  mark  of  a  religious. 

At  this  time  there  were  workmen  busy  in  the 
monastery ;  and,  among  other  things,  they  had  to 
throw  down  a  wall,  in  order  to  build  the  new 
church.  They  had  made  their  preparations  for 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


187 


throwing  it  down  without  any  injury  to  the  house, 
but  they  made  a  mistake,  and  the  whole  mass  fell 
on  the  cell  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross.  He  was  in 
it  at  the  time,  and  everybody  believed  that  he  was 
crushed  to  death.  The  fallen  mass  was  cleared 
away  in  the  utmost  haste,  but  all  were  without 
hope  of  seeing  the  servant  of  God  alive.  To  their 
amazement  and  joy,  they  found  him  in  a  corner  of 
the  cell,  standing.  He  had  not  been  even  touched 
by  the  falling  stones ;  he  came  forth,  as  soon  as 
they  made  way  for  him,  smiling,  and  unhurt. 
For  a  moment  their  joy  was  so  great  that  they 
could  not  speak;  at  last  they  asked  him  how  it 
was  that  he  had  escaped,  and  he  simply  replied, 

‘  She  of  the  white  mantle  covered  me  with  it ;’  and 
all  understood  that  our  Lady  had  been  there  to 
save  him. 

When  the  wonderful  escape  of  the  servant  of 
God  became  known  in  the  city,  and  in  the  country 
around,  a  great  many  people  came  to  the  monas¬ 
tery,  begging  to  be  received  into  the  order.  Of 
these  the  saint  accepted  nine ;  twro  for  the  house 
in  Cordova,  the  others  he  meant  to  send  to  Seville. 
As  the  two  whom  he  kept  in  Cordova  were  the 
poorest  in  worldly  goods,  some  of  the  fathers  beg¬ 
ged  him  to  change  them  for  others  who  could  be 
of  service  to  their  house,  seeing  that  the  com¬ 
munity  in  Seville  was  not  so  poor  as  they  were. 
The  man  of  God  was  not  moved  by  their  reason¬ 
ing;  but  he  told  them  that  he  had  chosen  the 
poorest  novices  for  the  purpose  of  founding  the 


188 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


bouse  more  securely,  and  keeping  out  of  it  all 
human  considerations  whatsoever. 

Thus  the  two  novices  were  kept  in  Cordova, 
and  the  other  seven  were  to  he  sent  away.  The 
vicar  ordered  Fra  Martin  of  the  Assumption,  his 
fellow,  with  a  lay  brother,  to  take  them  to  Seville, 
giving  him  nothing  but  a  sorry  mule  to  carry  their 
clothes.  Fra  Martin,  though  not  unused  to  the 
ways  of  the  saint,  was  not  a  little  alarmed,  for  he 
was  going  without  money  on  his  journey ;  so  he 
begged  the  vicar  provincial  to  let  him  ask  the 
prior  for  some  provision  for  the  road.  He  was 
afraid  that  the  novices  might  faint  by  the  way,  for 
they  had  never  been  tried  in  the  world  as  they 
would  be  tried  now.  The  saint  smiled,  and  said, 

4  Go,  my  son ;  our  Lord  has  made  everything  ready ; 
you  wull  want  nothing,  and  none  of  the  novices 
will  faint  by  the  way ;  they  will  reach  Seville  sound 
and  fervent.’ 

Fra  Martin  was  a  true  religious ;  he  obeyed  at 
once,  and  set  out  with  the  seven  novices,  without 
a  penny  to  defray  their  expenses  on  the  road.  In 
every  place  through  which  he  passed  he  found  no¬ 
thing  but  kindness;  people  even  pressed  alms  upon 
him  ;  and  thus  helped,  he  arrived  in  Seville  with¬ 
out  any  inconvenience,  but  heartily  ashamed  of 
himself  for  his  want  of  faith.  The  novices  too 
were  in  perfect  health  of  mind  and  body.  On  his 
return  he  presented  himself  before  the  vicar,  to 
give  an  account  of  his  journey,  and,  what  was 
harder  to  do,  to  bring  forth’  the  alms  he  had  re- 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


189 


ceived,  but  could  not  spend.  He  bad  left  Cordova 
in  doubt,  without  a  penny;  and  he  had  now,  to  his 
own  shame  and  confusion  of  face,  more  than  seven 
pounds  in  his  purse.  The  saint  told  him  to  give 
the  money  to  the  procurator,  adding,  ‘I  would 
rather  you  had  come  back  a  greater  saint,  and  that 
you  had  suffered  want  and  wrong  for  the  love  of 
God,  who  provided  for  you  so  well.’ 

Summoned  by  the  provincial  to  Madrid,  with 
the  other  vicars,  where  they  were  to  meet  August 
18,  1586,  he  set  out  on  his  journey.  In  Toledo 
he  fell  ill,  and  was  therefore  unable  to  attend. 
Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God,  the  vicar  of 
Portugal,  was  also  absent ;  but  as  their  places  were 
filled  by  the  priors  of  Madrid  and  Pastrana,  the 
provincial  was  able  to  transact  the  business  on 
account  of  which  they  had  been  summoned.  It 
was  said  at  the  time,  but  without  truth,  that  the 
illness  in  Toledo  was  more  or  less  feigned,  because 
St.  John  of  the  Cross  did  not  wish  to  be  present 
in  an  assembly  wherein  the  conduct  of  the  late 
provincial  was  to  be  discussed.  It  is  quite  true 
that  the  servant  of  God  had  a  great  affection  for 
Fra  Jerome,  but  he  was  not  blinded  by  his  love, 
and  moreover  he  never  shrank  from  duty,  however 
painful.  When  he  had  recovered  his  strength  he 
quitted  Toledo,  and  travelled  homeward  to  Granada. 
On  the  road  to  Cuerva,  from  Toledo,  he  turned 
aside  to  rest  himself  in  a  wood ;  he  went  into  it  a 
good  way,  that  he  might  be  less  disturbed,  leaving 
his  fellow  behind.  After  some  time  the  friar  went 


190 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


in  quest  of  the  servant  of  God,  and  searching  for 
him  amid  the  trees,  he  saw  him  lost  in  prayer, 
and  raised  in  the  air  high  from  the  ground. 

Soon  after  his  return  to  Granada  he  received 
orders  from  his  superior,  Fra  Nicolas  of  Jesus 
Maria,  the  provincial,  to  bring  Anne  of  Jesus, 
prioress  of  Granada,  to  Madrid,  where  she  was  to 
he  prioress  of  the  monastery  about  to  be  founded 
there.  In  obedience  to  the  order  of  the  provincial, 
he  brought  the  Venerable  Anne,  with  her  com¬ 
panions,  to  Madrid,  and  being  there,  he  asked 
and  obtained  leave  of  the  provincial  to  found  a 
monastery  in  Mancha  Eeal.  He  hastened  to  the 
latter  place,  and  took  possession  of  the  house, 
October  12th,  when  High  Mass  was  sung  by  the 
archdeacon  of  IJbeda,  who  gave  the  house,  the 
deacon  was  one  of  his  nephews,  also  a  canon 
of  Toledo,  and  the  sub-deacon  was  the  vicar  of 
the  provincial,  St.  John  of  the  Cross. 

During  one  of  the  many  journeys  he  made 
about  this  time  to  Mancha  Eeal,  he  was  accom¬ 
panied  by  Fra  Martin  of  the  Assumption  and 
Fra  Pedro  of  St.  Mary,  a  lay  brother.  The  latter 
fell  in  going  down  the  road  from  Porcuna  towards 
the  river,  and  broke  his  leg.  He  was  somewhat 
in  advance  of  the  two  fathers,  and  when  the  saint 
and  Fra  Martin  came  up  to  him  they  found  him 
in  sharp  pain,  for  the  shin-bone  was  broken  in 
two.  Fra  Martin  held  the  leg,  and  St.  John  of 
the  Cross,  wetting  a  piece  of  cloth  with  his  mouth, 
hound  the  limb;  and  then  having  put  the  poor 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


191 


brother  on  a  mule,  they  led  it,  one  on  each  side, 
supporting  Fra  Pedro  as  well  as  they  could  till 
they  came  to  an  inn.  There  the  saint  had  pro¬ 
mised  to  find  some  relief  for  him,  and  haying 
stopped,  said  they  would  help  him  to  dismount, 
that  he  might  not  be  put  to  further  pain. 

‘Pain,’  cried  Fra  Pedro,  ‘I  feel  none;’  and, 
leaping  to  the  ground,  danced  before  the  vicar  of 
the  province,  in  the  fulness  of  his  joy. 

Fra  Martin,  seeing  that  the  broken  limb  was 
not  only  set  but  healed,  cried  out,  ‘  A  miracle,  a 
manifest  miracle  !’ 

‘Hush,’  said  the  saint;  ‘what  do  these  people 
here  know  about  miracles  ?’ 

He  then  charged  the  two  friars,  under  pain  of 
disobedience,  to  hold  their  tongues,  and  keep 
secret  all  they  had  seen. 

During  his  stay  in  Mancha  Eeal,  two  women 
possessed  of  the  devil  were  brought  to  him.  One 
was  married ;  he  would  not  exorcise  her,  and  said 
to  those  who  had  brought  her  to  him  that  it  was 
not  necessary  to  do  so ;  her  deliverance  was  near  at 
hand.  They,  believing  him,  went  their  way,  and 
not  long  after  saw  the  prophecy  of  the  servant  of 
God  plainly  fulfilled.  The  other  was  unmarried, 
and  he  said  that  the  priests  who  had  begun  the 
exorcisms  would  work  her  cure.  But  they  were 
importunate  with  him,  praying  him  not  to  leave 
the  poor  woman  in  the  power  of  Satan ;  he  still 
refused,  and  all  they  could  obtain  from  him  was 
the  humble  confession  that  ‘  God  would  not  have 


192 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


him  interfere.’  The  friars,  knowing  well  that  he 
said  so  for  good  reasons,  urged  the  continuance 
of  the  exorcisms  by  the  priests  who  had  begun 
them,  and  in  the  course  of  the  following  year  the 
poor  woman  was  delivered  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
enemy. 

Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God  had,  in 
1585,  accepted  a  monastery  in  Guadalcacar,  of 
which  the  friars  took  possession  March  24th  of 
that  year.*  But  for  some  reason  or  other,  the 
deeds  concerning  the  foundation  had  not  yet  been 
formally  settled.  The  vicar  of  the  province  now, 
by  order  of  the  provincial,  wrent  thither  to  secure 
the  deeds.  The  founders  received  him  with  great , 
joy,  and  all  the  difficulties  feared  by  the  friars 
were  overcome  without  any  trouble.  While  there, 
the  servant  of  God  was  attacked  by  a  most  severe 
pain  in  his  side,  and  the  physician  who  came  to 
his  relief  said  that  he  could  not  recover.  The 
saint  hearing  this,  said  to  Fra  Martin,  who  was 
with  him :  *  The  hour  of  death  is  not  come  for 
me;  I  shall,  however,  have  much  to  suffer  in  this 
illness,  for  the  stone  is  not  yet  sufficiently  polished.’ 

The  physician  ordered  a  certain  ointment  to  be 
prepared,  and  Fra  Martin  brought  it  to  the  saint 
so  quickly  that  he  had  not  had  time  to  preparenfor 
it.  Fra  Martin  began  to  apply  it  to  his  side,  and 
then  discovered  an  iron  chain  around  the  body  of 
the  saint,  but  he  could  see  only  parts  of  it,  for  the 
flesh  covered  the  rest.  He  took  it  away,  and  in 
*  Reforma  tie  los  Descalgos,  ii.  p.  142. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  193 

removing  it  lie  tore  the  flesh,  and  the  blood  flowed 
abundantly  from  the  "wounds.  The  saint  suffered 
sharp  pain  during  the  sharp  operation  of  the  father, 
but  it  was  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  pain 
and  the  shame  he  felt  at  the  discovery  of  his 
penance.  He  then  confessed  to  his  faithful  com¬ 
panion  that  he  had  worn  it  for  the  last  seven  years 
night  and  day ;  and  every  link  in  the  chain  had 
two  sharp  points,  which  tore  the  flesh  at  every 
movement  of  his  body. 

Fra  Martin  kept  the  chain  as  a  precious  relic, 
and  after  the  death  of  the  saint  God  wrought 
miracles  by  it. 

About  this  time  also  he  was  travelling  with  Fra 
Pedro  of  the  Mother  of  God,  when  his  further 
course  was  stopped  by  the  overflowing  of  a  river, 
whereby  the  ford  had  become  dangerous.  Many 
people  were  there  before  him,  waiting  for  the  les¬ 
sening  of  the  waters,  and  he  himself  proposed 
to  wait  with  them.  But  he  heard  an  inward  voice 
calling  him  away.  He  bade  the  brother  stay  where 
he  was ;  he  -would  cross  notwithstanding  the  rush 
of  the  waters.  In  midstream  the  feet  of  the  mule 
became  entangled  in  some  brushwood  carried  away 
by  the  torrent,  and  both  he  and  the  mule  sank 
beneath  the  waters.  The  people,  who  had  begged 
him  to  wait,  now  cried  aloud  for  help,  but  no 
human  help  was  possible.  He,  however,  had  re¬ 
course  to  his  unfailing  protectress,  and  the  people 
amazed  saw  him  rise,  and,  in  spite  of  the  current, 
make  his  way  to  the  opposite  bank.  The  mulo 

o 


194 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


too  escaped,  and  the  saint,  having  mounted  it, 
hurried  on  to  an  inn  on  the  road  leading  from 
Yaena  to  Jaen. 

In  the  inn  was  a  man  dying  of  wounds  given 
him  in  a  brawl  by  the  son  of  the  innkeeper.  The 
saint  went  to  him  at  once,  and  heard  his  confession. 
The  poor  man  was  a  religious  who  had  gone  astray, 
who  had  cast  behind  his  hack  the  obligations  of 
his  rule,  and  was  now  an  apostate  from  his  pro¬ 
fession.  The  holy  man  urged  him  to  forgive  his 
murderer,  and  even  to  regard  him  as  one  who  had 
done  him  a  great  service.  He  remained  with  him 
for  two  hours,  and  helped  him  to  die  the  death  of 
a  good  Christian. 

Towards  the  end  of  November,  or  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  December  of  this  year,  1586,  he  went  to 
Bujalance,  to  make  arrangements  for  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  a  monastery  there.  On  the  road  he  said 
to  Fra  Martin,  ‘What  would  your  reverence  do  if 
we  were  now  travelling  amidst  infidels,  and  they 
were  to  set  upon  us  and  beat  us  ?’ 

*  Bear  it  patiently,  I  hope,  by  the  grace  of  God,’ 
was  the  answer  of  Fra  Martin. 

‘  Bear  it  patiently/  replied  the  saint ;  ‘  is  that 
your  way?  Why  not  desire  it  for  the  love  of  Christ?’ 

In  Bujalance  he  received  an  order  from  the 
provincial  to  come  to  Madrid.  It  was  late  at 
night,  hut  the  saint  made  his  preparations  at  once 
for  setting  out  early  the  next  morning,  though 
the  season  was  cold  and  rain  was  falling  after 
heavy  snow.  His  fellow  and  the  innkeeper  laboured 


195 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

to  persuade  him  to  delay  his  journey  till  the 
weather  grew  better.  He  would  not  listen  to  their 
entreaties,  saying  that  ‘he  could  ill  expect  his 
religious  to  obey  him  if  he  was  disobedient  him¬ 
self/  Before  dawn  the  next  morning  he  was  on 
his  way  to  Madrid. 

Before  he  left  Bujalance  he  commissioned  Fra 
Diego  of  the  Conception  to  make  the  foundation  in 
Caravaca,  concerning  which  the  Mother  Anne  of 
St.  Albert  had  spoken  to  him  in  the  beginning  of 
this  year,  and  Fra  Diego  took  possession  of  the 
house  December  18th. 


l 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Miraculous  light — The  chapter  of  Valladolid — Election  of 
the  saint  to  be  prior  of  Granada — Picture  of  the  saint 
— Foretells  the  canonisation  of  St.  Teresa — Fra  Je¬ 
rome  of  the  Mother  of  God — Division  of  the  province — 

The  saint  elected  prior  of  Segovia. 

$ 

The  servant  of  God  remained  in  Madrid  till  the 
beginning  of  March  1587,  vdien  he  went  to  Cara- 
vaca.  There  he  had  to  preside  at  the  election  of  a 
prioress  in  the  room  of  Mother  Anne  of  St.  Albert. 
On  the  morning  of  the  day  of  the  election  he 
said  Mass  in  the  church  of  the  monastery,  and 
while  he  was  saying  it  the  nuns  saw  a  wonderful 
light  around  the  saint.  Two  of  them — the  nearest 
to  the  grating — thought  the  light  came  from  the 
tabernacle,  and  one  of  these,  doubting  the  reality 
of  the  vision,  went  to  another  grating  nearer  the 
altar,  and  there  saw  the  same  sight.  Now,  this 
nun  could  not  make  up  her  mind  for  whom  she 
should  vote  in  the  chapter  about  to  be  held,  and 
was  in  great  perplexity  and  distress  of  mind;  but 
as  she  was  looking  on  and  marvelling  at  the 
heavenly  light,  she  heard  an  inward  voice  bidding 

her  do  what  the  vicar  provincial  should  suggest 

'  *  ‘vfl 
,  ■$* 

•  . 

. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


197 


to  her.  After  Mass  she  went  to  him,  and  told 
him  how  much  she  was  troubled  about  the  elec¬ 
tion  ;  he  listened  to  her,  and  then  told  her  what 
she  was  to  do.  All  her  scruples  and  anxieties 
vanished  in  a  moment,  and  she  was  conscious  of 
a  great  interior  peace. 

When  the  nuns  were  assembled  in  chapter, 
the  servant  of  God  came  in  and  preached  to  them 
for  some  time.  They  saw  again  the  wondrous 
light  which  they  had  seen  during  Mass;  the  whole 
choir  was  flooded  with  it,  and  the  nuns  were  filled 
with  a  wonderful  joy.  Then  the  election  was  made, 
and  made  in  great  peace;  and  then,  when  all  wras 
over,  the  servant  of  God  said  to  thrm,  ‘  Children, 
God  reward  you,  and  I  thank  you,  for  you  have 
done  according  to  His  will.’ 

A  few  days  afterwards  one  of  the  nuns,  Bar¬ 
bara  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  suffered  much  from 
inward  unrest,  but  she  never  spoke  to  any  one  of 
her  trouble.  The  man  of  God  sent  for  her,  and 
said,  ‘  Child,  why  do  you  hide  your  sorrows  ?  But 
as  you  are  silent  yourself,  I  will  tell  them.’  He 
told  her  all  her  troubles,  to  her  amazement ;  and 
then,  when  he  had  ended,  hade  her  he  of  good 
courage;  all  would  end  well,  and  her  soul  would 
be  in  peace ;  and  the  prophecy  was  fulfilled  to  the 
letter. 

From  Caravaca  he  went  to  Valladolid,  sum¬ 
moned  thither  by  the  provincial.  There  the  de- 
finitors,  of  whom  he  was  one,  met  on  the  7th  of 
April,  and  transacted  certain  business,  by  way  of 


198 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


preparation  for  the  assembling  of  the  provincial 
chapter,  which  was  held  on  Friday  the  17th.  The 
next  day  the  definitors  were  elected,  and  a  few 
days  later  the  vicars  provincial.  Certain  abuses 
which  had  crept  in  wrere  removed,  and  decrees 
were  made  in  virtue  of  which  schools  were  to  he 
founded  within  the  order  :  so  that  henceforth  the 
novices  might  he  taught  at  home,  and  he  no  longer 
sent,  as  they  had  hitherto  been,  to  the  universities 
for  their  instruction  in  human  learning. 

When  St.  John  of  the  Cross  was  released,  as 
he  now  was,  from  his  duties  as  vicar  of  Andalucia, 
he  hoped  that  he  might  he  allowed  to  live  undis¬ 
tinguished  among  his  brethren.  It  wras  not  to  he 
so  yet;  and  he  was  elected  prior  of  Granada. 
W7hen  he  saw  that  the  choice  of  the  chapter  had 
fallen  upon  him,  he  fell  on  his  knees  before  the 
assembled  fathers,  and  begged  his  brethren  to 
have  pity  on  him,  and  suffer  him  to  attend  to  his 
own  soul,  without  the  charge  of  the  souls  of 
others.  He  wept  in  the  soreness  of  his  distress  ; 
but  the  tears  of  the  wearied  saint  did  not  move 
his  brethren.  He  was  compelled  to  accept  the 
priorate ;  and  so  with  a  heavy  heart  went  back  to 
Granada,  but  to  the  great  joy  of  the  friars  and  of 
the  nuns  who  were  there. 

Relieved  from  the  visitation  of  the  province, 
he  now  gave  himself  up  solely  to  his  work  in  the 
monastery,  in  which  he  was  now  prior  for  the 
third  time.  He  finished  the  building  of  the  house, 
supplied  it  with  water,  planted  a  vineyard,  and 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  199 

made  it  a  pattern  for  all  the  houses  of  the  order  ; 
in  the  whole  of  Spain  there  was  not  one  to  surpass 
it  in  its  fitness  and  convenience.  He  himself 
laboured  writh  his  own  hands,  mixed  the  mortar 
and  laid  the  bricks,  choosing  for  himself,  when  it 
could  be  done,  that  which  workmen  regard  as  the 
least  honourable  part  of  their  labours.  He  sent 
to  Medina  for  his  brother,  Francis  de  Yepes,  em¬ 
ployed  him  as  a  labourer ;  and  whenever  any  of 
the  great  personages  of  Granada  came  to  the 
monastery  to  visit  the  prior,  the  prior  never  failed 
to  show  them  his  brother  at  his  work,  or  if  that 
could  not  be  done,  he  would  find  some  excuse  for 
bringing  him  into  the  room,  where  he  would  speak 
of  him  as  the  person  the  most  dear  to  him  upon 
earth. 

Some  people  at  this  time,  wishing  to  have  a 
picture  of  the  saint,  begged  the  friars  to  help  them 
to  obtain  their  desired  end.  The  friars  knew  too 
well  that  he  would  never  consent  to  their  wishes, 
so  they  resolved  to  take  his  picture  by  stealth. 
That  was  easy  enough ;  they  brought  the  painter 
to  his  cell  when  he  was  in  a  trance,  and  in  that 
way  the  work  was  done.  Some  time  afterwards 
the  saint  found  out  what  had  been  done,  and  was 
greatly  hurt  and  grieved;  with  the  friars  he  was 
even  angry.  In  the  processes  of  his  canonisation 
it  was  deposed  that  he  had  been  three  times  dis¬ 
turbed.  This  was  one  of  them;  another  was  when 
the  conversation  fell  upon  what  he  and  Fra  Anto¬ 
nio  had  done  for  the  order  in  Duruelo;  and  the 


200 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


third  time  was  in  his  last  illness.  The  surgeon  had 
punctured  his  foot  to  obtain  some  relief  for  him, 
and  one  of  the  punctures  being  in  that  part  of  the 
foot  which  wTas  pierced  by  the  nail  of  the  Cruci¬ 
fixion,  the  friar  who  waited  upon  him  said  in  jest, 
but  probably  in  real  earnest,  that  our  Lord  had 
admitted  him  to  a  share  in  His  sufferings,  of  which 
the  wound  in  the  foot  was  the  outward  sign.  The 
holy  man,  whose  humility  never  slumbered,  became 
angry;  for  he  thought  the  friar  was  comparing 
him  with  St.  Francis.* 

If  the  servant  of  God,  in  his  humility,  tried  to 
hide  the  sanctity  of  his  life  from  the  eyes  of  men, 
God  Himself  would  make  it  manifest  from  time  to 
time.  One  day  a  great  personage  in  Granada, 
who  did  not  know  the  saint,  but  who  had  heard 
much  of  him,  resolved  to  put  the  popular  rumour 
to  the  test.  He  went  to  the  saint  and  laid  before 
him  the  state  of  his  own  soul.  He  then  learnt  so 
much  in  that  conversation  and  saw  so  much  in  the 
servant  of  God,  that  he  was  afterwards  wront  to 
say,  ‘  0,  what  treasures  God  has  laid  up  in  that 
man  !  I  had  heard  much  of  him,  but  what  I  had 
heard  is  as  nothing  to  what  I  know.’ 

The  nuns  too,  in  the  monasteries  which  he 
visited,  gathered  the  fragments  of  liis  food,  and 
treasured  them  as  something  divinely  touched ; 
his  very  habit  was  fragrant.  One  of  the  friars 
persuaded  him  to  give  up  his  habit,  now  worn 
threadbare,  and  put  on  another  which  was  new. 

*  Joseph  de  Jesus  Maria,  Hist,  tie  la  Vitla,  p.372. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


201 


Tlie  prior  consented,  and  the  friar,  out  of  devotion, 
put  on  the  discarded  habit  himself,  hut  it  brought 
down  upon  him  the  censures  of  his  brethren. 
They  said  he  carried  perfumes  about  his  person — 
a  thing  unseemly  in  a  religious  ;  he  defended  him¬ 
self  as  well  as  he  could,  and  continued  to  wear  the 
habit.  At  last  the  friars  ascertained  the  cause  of 
the  strange  fragrance,  and  then  found  that  what¬ 
ever  touched  the  macerated  flesh  of  the  saintly 
prior  gave  forth  a  delicious  smell. 

He  foietold  the  canonisation  of  St.'  Teresa  at 
this  time,  and  before  any  steps  had  been  taken  in 
the  order  or  elsewhere  for  that  end.  It  happened 
in  this  way. 

In  March  1588,  during  recreation  in  the 
monastery  of  Granada,  Fra  Juan  of  the  Holy 
Angels  said  he  had  dreamt  the  night  before  that 
they  were  keeping  the  feast  of  their  holy  Mother, 
and  that  they  had  sung  the  divine  office  in  her 
honour.  He  was  laughing  at  himself  and  his 
dream,  but  the  prior  spoke  seriously  to  him,  and 
|  •  Pegged  him  not  to  make  that  a  matter  for  mirth  : 

he  would  see  his  dream  fulfilled  before  he  died. 
Ira  Juan  was  no  longer  a  young  man,  and  gave 
little  heed  to  the  words  of  the  prior ;  but  he  lived 
to  be  an  older  man,  and  saw  not  the  beatification 
only,  but  the  canonisation  also  of  St.  Teresa,  in 


the  year  1G22.* 


Fra  Joseph  de  Jesus  Maria,  p.  G39. 


CHAPTEE  XVII. 

The  first  general  chapter  of  the  reform — St.  John  of  the 
Cross  prior  of  Segovia  —  Fra  Nicolas  —  The  discon¬ 
tented  friar — The  disobedient  preacher — Francis  de 
Urena — Death  of  Catherine  Alvarez — Austerities  and 
prayer  of  the  saint. 

In  June  1588  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  obeying  the 
summons  of  the  provincial,  was  present  at  the 
chapter  held  in  Madrid.  A  great  change  was  now 
made  in  the  government  of  the  order.  His  Holi¬ 
ness  Sixtus  V.,  having  received  many  petitions 
from  Spain,  had  sanctioned  a  further  separation 
of  the  friars  of  the  reform  from  the  friars  of  the 
mitigated  observance.  The  brief  of  the  Pope, 
dated  July  10,  1587,  was  brought  to  Spain  the 
same  year,  and  notice  of  it  was  given  to  the  pro¬ 
vincial  by  the  Nuncio.  The  provincial  then  called 
the  definitors  together,  November  25,  1587,  and 
laid  before  them  a  copy  of  the  brief,  which  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Nuncio.  They  all  agreed  that  a 
chapter  of  the  province  should  be  held  for  the 
formal  acceptance  and  publication  of  it,  and  ac¬ 
cordingly  the  chapter  was  summoned  to  meet  in 
Madrid,  June  19,  1588. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CHOSS.  203 

In  that  assembly  of  the  defmitors  in  Madrid, 
Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God,  the  first  provin¬ 
cial  of  the  order,  and  the  friend  of  St.  Teresa,  was 
deprived  of  all  authority.  He  was  declared  unmeet 
to  give  his  voice  in  chapter  or  to  be  elected  to  any 
office.  He  had  broken  in  upon  the  established  dis¬ 
cipline  by  publishing  a  pamphlet  without  the  leave 
of  his  superiors,  and  his  offence  was  the  greater 
because  he  had  discussed  in  it  the  state  of  the 
order.  All  those  who  knew  how  much  he  was  dis¬ 
liked  by  the  provincial?  Fra  Nicolas,  were  not  sur¬ 
prised  at  the  punishment,  however  much  they  may 
have  lamented  it.  Henceforward  Fra  Jerome  is  a 
stranger  among  his  brethren,  and  those  who  loved 
him,  and  would  have  saved  him  if  they  could, 
never  found  a  single  opportunity  wherein  they 
could  defend  him.  In  the  chapter  held  in  Valla¬ 
dolid,  in  April,  he  had  been  elected  vicar  provin¬ 
cial  of  Mexico ;  and  now,  in  November,  he  was 
deprived  of  all  authority  in  the  order. 

The  chapter  summoned  in  November  now  as¬ 
sembled  in  Madrid,  in  June  of  this  year,  1588, 
and,  after  the  reading  of  the  Papal  brief,  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  put  it  in  execution.  Having  elected  the 
four  definitors,  of  whom  St.  John  of  the  Cross  was 
the  first,  it  then  proceeded  to  the  election  of  the 
vicar-general;  for  as  the  friars  were  now  made 
into  a  congregation,  and  the  province  was  to  be 
divided,  the  superior  was  to  be  no  longer  a  pro¬ 
vincial,  but  the  vicar  of  the  general,  having  vicars 
provincial  under  him.  There  was  some  little 


204 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


murmuring  on  the  part  of  five  or  six  of  the  fathers 
who  were  friends  of  Fra  Jerome,  but  the  rest  pre¬ 
vailed,  and  Fra  Nicolas,  the  late  provincial,  was 
elected  vicar-general,  invested  with  the  very  au¬ 
thority  and  power  over  the  friars  of  the  reform 
which  the  prior-general  himself  had  over  the  whole 
order ;  but  of  the  fifty-eight  fathers  who  had  the 
right  to  vote  in  the  election,  there  were  twenty- 
six  who  did  not  give  their  voices  in  favour  of  Fra 
Nicolas* 

The  vicar-general  being  elected,  the  friars  then 
divided  the  province,  no  longer  a  province  but  a 
congregation,  into  six  provinces,  and  placed  a 
prior  provincial  over  each ;  then  came  the  discus- 
*  sion  of  the  matter  which  had  caused  so  much 
division  and  heartburnings.  Fra  Nicolas  had  ob¬ 
tained  from  the  Pope  the  appointment  of  consul- 
tors,  one  from  each  province,  who  were  to  aid  him 
in  the  government  of  the  order,  and  to  decide  the 
questions  that  came  before  them,  without  appeal. 

There  were  to  be  six  consultors,  and  of  these 
the  first  chosen  was  St.  John  of  the  Cross ;  he 
wras  also  elected  prior  of  the  house  in  Segovia 
founded  by  his  penitent,  Doha  Ana  de  Pehalosa  ; 
and  as  it  was  judged  inexpedient  that  the  con¬ 
sultors  should  sit  in  Madrid,  lest  the  court  should 
interfere  with  them  and  influence  their  reso¬ 
lutions,  Segovia  wras  chosen  to  be  the  seat  of  the 
council,  and  St.  John  of  the  Cross  wras  to  be  the 
president  of  it,  in  the  absence  of  the  vicar-general. 

*  Reforma,  ii.  420. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


205 


He  went  to  Segovia  in  the  beginning  of 
August,  and  entered  on  his  work  by  rebuilding  the 
monastery  in  a  more  healthy  spot.  He  himself, 
one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  order  and  the  prior  of 
the  house,  wTas  to  be  seen  daily  among  the  work¬ 
men,  working  with  them.  His  own  cell  was  the 
poorest  in  the  monastery — a  small  closet  under  the 
staircase,  dimly  lighted,  in  which  a  place  could 
with  difficulty  be  found  for  his  bed,  but  none  for  a 
table  to  write  on.  He  had  no  books  at  any  time 
in  his  cell  but  the  Breviary  and  the  Scriptures.  All 
the  time  not  occupied  in  the  business  of  the 
house  he  spent  in  the  hollow  of  a  rock  which  was 

Sin  the  garden,  where  he  could  neither  sit  nor 
stand.  Thus  he  gave  his  body  no  rest,  though  he  „ 
seemed  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  to  be  always  at 
rest ;  for  he  never  appeared  in  it. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  winter  the  vicar- 
general  of  the  order  was  in  Segovia,  about  to  make 
his  visitation.  The  weather  wras  cold,  so  he  fur- 
nished  himself  and  his  fellow,  to  defend  themselves 

I  against  rain  and  snow,  with  two  large  oil-capes. 
He  had  found  fault  with  Fra  Jerome  on  account 
of  the  trappings  of  his  mule ;  and  so  now  he,  in  his 
turn,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  prior  of  Segovia, 
who  told  him  that,  in  a  person  of  his  rank  and  au¬ 
thority,  the  oil-capes  might  be  an  occasion  of  laxity 
in  the  order,  and  a  scandal  to  the  weaker  brethren. 
Fra  Nicolas  was,  though  stubborn  and  hard,  a 
man  of  real  humility,  and.  at  once  acknowledged 
liis  mistake ;  he  left  the  oil-capes  behind,  and 


206 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


braved  the  rigours  of  tlie  winter  in  the  ordinary 
dress  of  the  barefooted  Carmelites. 

The  servant  of  God  spent  all  the  time  he 
could  spare  from  the  duties  of  the  house  in  the 
narrow  cave  in  the  garden,  but  he  never  could  re¬ 
main  long  there ;  for  the  interruptions  were  many 
and  continuous,  for  people  came  to  the  monastery 
to  see  the  prior.  He  never  at  any  time  refused  to 
see  them ;  but  he  would  complain  gently  to  the 
father  who  called  him  of  these  hindrances  to 
prayer,  and  went  with  reluctance  to  converse  with 
men  who  came  to  break  up  his  converse  with 
God. 

Though  thus  continually  giving  himself  up  to 
.prayer,  he  neglected  nothing;  and,  as  if  to  re¬ 
ward  him  and  to  supply  the  seeming  want  of 
watchfulness,  God  revealed  to  him  the  secrets  of 
men’s  hearts,  that  his  government  of  them  might 
be  to  His  glory.  One  day  he  met  two  of  his  friars 
talking  together,  and  said  to  them,  ‘  Why  think 
ye  evil  in  your  hearts?’  They  defended  them¬ 
selves,  for  their  conscience  smote  them  ;  but  he 
reproved  them  sharply,  and  told  them  they  had 
been  rashly  judging  one  of  their  brethren;  which 
was  true.  Another  friar,  deluded  by  Satan  into 
the  belief  that  he  was  called  to  a  higher  life,  re¬ 
solved  on  leaving  the  monastery,  and  persuaded 
Fra  Barnabas  of  Jesus  to  go  with  him  to  the 
Carthusians,  where  they  could  lead  that  perfect 
life  to  which  he  was  called.  The  servant  of  God 
sent  for  Fra  Barnabas,  and,  having  told  him  all 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


207 


that  had  passed  between  him  and  the  other  friar, 
warned  him  against  the  conversation  of  his  brother, 
for  he  was  under  grievous  delusions,  and  would 
make  shipwreck  of  his  holy  profession.  Fra 
Barnabas  accepted  the  warning  of  the  servant  of 
God,  and  persevered;  but  the  other  friar  came  to 
a  miserable  end. 

Another  friar,  tempted  by  Satan,  was  about  to 
leave  the  monastery  one  night  when  all  in  the 
house  were  asleep.  He  had  made  all  his  prepara¬ 
tions,  and  had  even  laid  a  ladder  against  the  outer 
wall  of  the  enclosure.  The  saint,  who  had  not 
gone  to  sleep,  but  who  wTas  awake  in  prayer,  know¬ 
ing  by  revelation  from  God  what  the  friar  was 
doing,  went  to  the  cell  of  one  of  the  fathers,  begged 
him  to  go  down  into  the  garden  and  remove  the 
ladder,  without  speaking  a  word  to  any  one,  not 
even  if  he  found  another  friar  near  the  ladder.  The 
father  went  down  to  the  garden,  and  when  he  got 
to  the  place  the  poor  friar  was  there  before  him, 
with  one  foot  on  the  ladder,  bent  on  going  forth 
into  the  "world  he  had  left.  But  when  he  saw  the 
father  lay  his  hand  on  the  ladder  as  if  about  to 
remove  it,  and  at  the  same  time  seeming  not  to 
recognise  his  presence,  he  knew  in  a  moment  what 
had  taken  place ;  he  felt  that  the  father  was  there 
by  order  of  the  prior,  and  that  God  had  made  his 
sin  known  to  him.  He  entered  into  himself,  and, 
bitterly  repenting  of  his  evil  imaginations,  Jed  a 
life  of  great  penance  afterwards,  and  persevered  in 
the  order  till  his  death. 


208 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


Pie  was  very  patient  with  men.  There  was  a 
grand  Mass  with  a  sermon  in  the  church  of  the 
monastery  in  Piaster  week  1589,  and  benefactors 
of  the  house  had  been  invited,  with  the  foundress, 
Dona  Ana  de  Penalosa,  and  her  brother.  During 
the  Mass  the  saint  was  told  that  the  friar  whom 
he  had  appointed  to  preach  was  unwell,  and  could 
not  appear.  The  saint  asked  if  he  was  in  bed,  and 
learning  that  he  was  not,  and  also  knowing  the 
cause  of  the  disobedience,  sent  him  word  that  he 
ought  to  consider  well  the  disappointment  of  so 
many  people  and  the  inconvenience  it  would  be 
to  the  community.  The  friar  was  unmoved; 
having  taken  offence  at  some  trifle  or  other,  he 
was  now,  like  a  child,  resenting  it.  The  servant  of 
God,  showing  no  sign  of  disturbance,  sent  word 
to  the  priest  at  the  altar  to  continue  the  Mass 
without  interruption  to  the  end.  He  said  nothing 
to  the  friar  who  had  been  so  perverse,  but  gave 
orders  that  as  he  was  unwell  no  person  should  be 
allowed  to  see  him  from  without.  He  then  betook 
himself  to  grayer  on  his  behalf,  and  begged  he 
might  have  grace  to  see  the  evil  he  had  done  and 
the  inevitable  issues  of  the  road  on  which  he  had 
begun  to  run.  At  the  end  of  a  fortnight  the  friar, 
still  sullen,  and  unable  to  see  one  of  his  friends 
whom  he  greatly  cherished,  began  to  feel  the  in¬ 
convenience  of  his  imposed  illness.  He  now* 
entered  into  himself,  and  saw  what  folly  he  had 
committed,  and  into  what  danger  he  had  wilfully 
run.  The  servant  of  God,  knowing  the  state  he 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  TIIE  CROSS.  209 

was  in,  and  knowing  too  that  the  time  was  come 
when  the  mortified  spirit  could  he  really  humbled, 
rebuked  him  with  grave  severity  in  chapter  before 
all  his  brethren,  and  laid  a  sharp  penance  upon 
him  to  make  him  remember  his  offence.  The 
friar  submitted  with  tears  of  joy,  for  he  knew  that 
he  deserved  a  far  more  severe  treatment,  and  was 
never  afterwards  wearied  of  speaking  of  the  tender¬ 
ness  and  pity  which  the  prior  had  shown  him 
when  he  least  deserved  it.* 

Strict  with  himself,  he  was  always  thoughtful 
about  others.  Francisco  de  Urena  was  the  barber 
of  the  monastery  ;  not,  however,  for  money,  for  the 
friars  had  little  to  give,  but  for  the  love  of  God. 
One  day,  while  on  his  way  to  the  monastery,  he 
remembered  that  he  wanted  some  article  of  dress, 
for  the  old  one  was  worn  out.  He  said  nothing, 
however,  to  any  one,  but  as  he  was  about  to  leave 
the  house,  the  procurator  met  him  and  gave  him 
wrhat  he  wranted.  It  was  quite  new,  and  the  poor 
barber  declined  such  a  gift.  The  procurator  then 
told  him  he  must  accept  it,  for  it  had  been  sent 
by  the  prior.  Francisco  submitted  when  he  heard 
that,  and  went  home  marvelling  within  himself, 
for  he  knew  that  God  had  made  his  thoughts  and 
necessities  known  to  His  servant.  The  saint  was 
one  day  hearing  the  confession  of  a  nun  in  their 
monastery  in  Segovia,  and  when  she  had  finished, 
asked  her  if  she  had  anything  more  to  say : 

‘  Nothing,  father,’  was  the  answer  of  the  nun. 

*  Fra  Joseph  de  Jesus  Maria,  p.  384. 

P 


210 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


‘Be  careful,  my  child,’  replied  the  saint;  ‘I 
know  you  have.’ 

‘  Certainly,  I  remember  nothing  more,’  per¬ 
sisted  the  nun. 

Then  the  saint  reminded  her  of  certain  things, 
which  the  sister  instantly  confessed ;  amazed  at 
the  knowledge  granted  to  the  saint,  hut  full  of 
thanksgiving,  as  she  afterwards  said,  for  the  great 
mercy  of  God  in  thus  bringing  to  her  remembrance 
what  she  had,  but  should  not  have,  forgotten. 

A  lady  came  to  his  confessional,  and  when  she 
had  finished,  was  told  by  the  saint  to  confess  also 
some  sin  of  which  she  had  said  nothing,  and 
which,  unhappily,*  she  had  been  silent  about  in 
former  confessions.  She  humbled  herself  at  once 
without  the  least  hesitation  or  explanation,  and, 
confessing  all,  went  home  with  a  tranquil  con¬ 
science. 

A  man  went  from  curiosity  to  see  the  monas¬ 
tery,  and  at  the  door  met  the  saint,  whose  looks 
so  touched  him  that  he  asked  him  to  hear  his 
confession.  He  had  not  thought  of  confessing 
when  he  left  his  house,  and  his  sins  were  many. 
The  servant  of  God  led  him  into  the  church,  and 
not  only  heard  his  confession  with  the  most  com¬ 
passionate  gentleness,  but  also,  to  his  great  won¬ 
der,  helped  him  to  make  his  confession,  remind¬ 
ing  him  of  his  sins,  and  speaking  of  them  as  if  he 
had  been  himself  present  when  the  poor  man  fell 
into  them. 

Don  Juan  Orozco  de  Covarruvias,  canon  of 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


211 


Segovia,  went  to  the  saint  for  advice,  for  he  had 
been  told  that  he  was  about  to  be  made  a  bishop. 
The  saint  said  to  him  that  it  would  be  better  for 
him  to  remain  where  he  was,  because  the  bishopric 
would  bring  him  nothing  but  sore  trouble  and 
confusion.  Some  time  afterwards  the  canon  ac¬ 
cepted  a  bishopric  in  Italy,  though  not  without 
fear,  and  learned  by  bitter  experience  how  pro¬ 
phetic  were  the  saint’s"  words.  His  troubles  were 
so  heavy  and  so  manifold  that  he  even  ran  away 
from  his  see  back  again  to  Spain. 

At  this  time  the  mother  of  the  saint  died  in 
Medina  del  Campo,  poor  but  not  forgotten,  because 
St.  Teresa  had  charged  her  nuns  there  to  see  that 
the  mother  of  her  firstborn  son  in  Carmel  should 
he  provided  with  all  that  was  needful  for  her  sup¬ 
port.  The  nuns  fulfilled  with  the  utmost  faith¬ 
fulness  the  charge  laid  upon  them  by  St.  Teresa, 
and  when  Catharine  Alvarez  died,  she  was  buried 
with  the  religious  of  the  house ;  and  the  monastery 
regarded  the  possession  of  her  body  as  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  a  great  treasure,  so  saintly  was  the  life  and 
death  of  the  mother  of  the  servant  of  God.*  It 
does  not  appear  that  St.  John  of  the  Cross  ever 
saw  his  mother  since  he  became  a  barefooted  friar. 
When  he  heard  of  her  death,  he  sent  for  his 
brother  to  Segovia ;  the  two  brothers  loved  one 

*  The  mother  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross  lies  buried  in 
the  cloister.  Her  name  in  religion  was  Maria  de  la  En- 
carnacion. — A  Pilgrimage  to  the  Shrine  of  St.  Teresa  de 
Jesus,  p.  8,  by  the  Rev.  Canon  Dalton,  1873. 


212  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


% 


another  with  a  love  passing  the  love  of  brothers, 
for  each  helped  the  other  to  love  God  more  and 
more,  and  poverty  itself  above  all  earthly  goods. 
Francis  came ;  and  when  the  two  brothers  wTere 
speaking  together  they  both  fell  into  a  trance,  and 
saw  their  mother  in  a  vision,  and  heard  her  speak 
of  the  glory  to  which  God  had  raised  ter.* 

The  servant  of  God  had  borne  the  heat  of  the 
day  in  his  order,  constantly  employed  in  govern¬ 
ing  others,  and  was  now  longing  more  earnestly 
than  ever  for  a  little  rest ;  *but  there  was  to  be 
none  for  him,  even  when  relieved  from  the  burden 
of  office.  He  spent  so  little  time  in  sleep,  and 
treated  his  body  with  such  extreme  severity,  that 
his  brethren  feared  for  his  life.  Every  night, 
before  Matins  and  after,  he  would  retire  into  the 
most  lonely  part  of  the  house,  that  he  might  take 
the  discipline  unknown  to  others.  But  through 
the  silence  of  the  night  the  sound  of  the  lash 
would  reach  the  ears  of  the  friars,  who  trembled 
when  they  heard  it,  for  they  knew  how  merciless 
*  he  was  to  himself.  They  could  not  venture  to 
interrupt  him  openly,  for  he  was  their  superior ;  so 
they  had  recourse  from  time  to  time  to  a  little  art, 
and  would  carry  a  light  into  the  neighbourhood, 
and  let  the  father  be  seen.  This  they  did  so 
often  that  he  at  last  complained  of  it  to  his  old 
friend  and  companion,  Fra  Martin  of  the  Assump¬ 
tion.  ‘I  am  not  a  child,’  he  said,  ‘that  cannot 


0  Vida  de  Francis  dc  Tcpes,  p.  37. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


213 


take  care  of  itself ;  wliy  do  you  persecute  me  in 
this  way  ?’* 

The  fathers  continued  their  affectionate  perse¬ 
cution,  and  one  of  them  from  Andalucia  wrote  to 
him  a  long  and  touching  letter,  begging  him  to 
be  more  merciful  to  his  body,  for  the  sake  of 
others  and  the  prosperity  of  the  order.  But  he 

wrote  in  answer  that  which  he  had  said  before  to 

<> 

Fra  John  of  St.  Anne  in  Baeza.f 

The  servant  of  God  was  wasting  away  in  the 
furnace  of  divine  love ;  he  had  done  with  the 
world  and  all  that  is  in  it,  and  sought  nothing 
but  the  cross ;  he  was  now  in  the  habit  of  re¬ 
commending  to  certain  of  his  penitents  who  had 
climbed  the  heights  of  Carmel  under  his  direction 
to  abstain,  unless  they  were  priests,  from  commu- 
nion  on  Fridays,  that 'in  their  hunger  and  thirst 
after  the  heavenly  food  they  might  enter  the 
more  fully  into  the  bitterness  of  that  abandon¬ 
ment  which  our  Most  Blessed  Lord  underwent  in 
His  Holy  Passion  on  the  Cross. 

When  the  saint  was  living  in  Granada,  a  large 
and  beautiful  dove  was  seen  over  his  cell,  and 
now  in  Segovia  people  beheld  it  again.  The 
dove  was  always  silent,  alone,  never  mingling 
with  its  kind,  and  generally  near  the  cell  of  the 
saint  or  over  it.  It  disappeared  from  Segovia, 
as  it  had  done  from  Granada,  when  the  saint  went 
away,  but  was  seen  again  in  Andalucia,  ■whither 

*  See  chapter  x. 

f  Marco  de  San  Francisco,  p.  214;  see  cli.  x.  p.  137. 


214 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


lie  retired  on  the  resignation  of  his  priorate.  So 
continual  was  his  prayer  now,  that  he  had  to  do 
violence  to  himself  when  people  came  to  speak  to 
him  of  their  own  affairs,  and  he  was  weary  of  all 
that  he  had  to  do,  except  his  duties  in  the  com¬ 
munity,  wherein  he  never  failed.  One  night,  when 
the  religious  were  all  in  their  cells,  he  went  down 
to  the  church,  and  prayed  before  a  picture  of  our 
Lord  carrying  His  cross,  the  very  sight  of  which 
always  moved  the  saint  to  great  devotion.  During 
his  prayer,  a  voice  spoke  to  him,  as  if  coming  from 
the  picture,  saying,  4  John,  what  shall  I  give  thee 
for  all  thou  hast  done  and  suffered  for  Me  ?’  The 
holy  man  was  startled;  but  as  he  was  not  only 
humble  but  also  wary  in  the  matter  of  revelations 
and  visions,  he  looked  around  to  see  if  anybody 
were  in  the  church  who  could  have  uttered  the 
words,  for  he  was  always  afraid  of  delusions. 

He  saw  no  one,  and  indeed  he  was  the  only 
one  there ;  but  not  trusting  his  ears,  he  returned 
to  his  prayer,  making  no  answer.  The  words  were 
again  uttered,  and  the  saint,  still  distrustful,  con¬ 
tinued  in  prayer.  He  heard  the  same  words  uttered 
the  third  time,  and  then  he  made  the  wondrous 
answer,  ‘  To  suffer  and  to  be  held  in  contempt  for 
Thy  sake.’  It  was  what  he  always  longed  for,  and 
was  the  only  wish  of  his  heart  on  earth,  and  was 
now  about  to  be  granted  him. 

He  had  many  letters  of  St.  Teresa  in  his  pos¬ 
session,  written  to  him  from  time  to  time,  and  he 
would  also  from  time  to  time  read  them  for  the 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


215 


spiritual  consolation  and  joy  which  he  always  re¬ 
ceived  from  them.  But  at  last,  finding  that  such 
reading  was  sweet,  and  fearing  that  he  was  seek¬ 
ing  consolations  out  of  God,  the  saint  of  detach¬ 
ment  burnt  the  letters,*  to  his  own  great  gain  we 
cannot  doubt,  but  to  the  great  and  irreparable  loss 
of  all  succeeding  generations. 

*  Note  of  Fra  Antonio  to  Lett.  40,  vol.  ii.  of  the  Letters 
of  St.  Teresa.  * 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Discontent  of  tlie  nuns  —  Resolution  of  tlie  friars — Fra 
Luis  do  Leon — Royal  interference — St.  John  of  the 
Cross  neglected  by  his  brethren  —  retires  to  Pehuela 
— illness — goes  to  Ubecla. 

The  new  way  of  governing  the  order,  on  which 
Fra  Nicolas  the  vicar  had  entered,  led  at  once 
to  great  discontent,  not  only  among  the  nuns  but 
also  among  the  friars.  The  former  believed  them¬ 
selves  to  have  been  seriously  wronged,  and  were 
not  silent.  They  complained  especially  of  the 
council,  before  which  every  trifling  fault  of  theirs 
was  brought.  They  had  nothing  to  say  against 
the  members  separately,  whom  they  respected,  hut 
they  could  not  hear  that  their  shortcomings  should 
he  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  seven  friars  instead 
of  one.  They  thought  that  a  yoke  which  ought 
not  have  been  laid  upon  their  necks. 

In  their  distress  they  went  out  of  the  order  for 
help,  expecting  probably  to  find  none  among  the 
friars.  Foremost  among  the  discontented  was  the 
Venerable  Anne  of  Jesus,  now  prioress  of  Madrid. 
In  her  judgment,  the  nuns  should  be  under  the 
government  of  one  man,  not  under  that  of  many. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CHOSS.  217 

To  obtain  her  end,  she  proposed  that  the  Chapter- 
General  of  the  order  should  elect  a  visitor  of  the 
nuns,  who  should  be  the  deputy  of  the  vicar  j  it 
being  assumed  that  the  vicar  himself  could  not  in 
pe]  son  visit  all  the  monasteries.  But  before  ap¬ 
plying  to  the  Pope,  she  consulted  two  friends  of 
St.  Teresa,  and  great  friends  of  the  order  also, 
Don  Teutonio,  Archbishop  of  Evora,  and  the  great 
Dominican  doctor,  Dominic  Banes.  Besides  these, 
she  consulted  also  the  Augustinian,  Era  Luis  de 
Leon,  who  had  published  the  writings  of  St. 
Teresa,  the  foundress  of  the  reform. 

These  grave  and  learned  men  were  asked  two 
questions.  Eirst,  ‘  Is  it  lawful  for  the  nuns  to 
make  known  in  Borne  the  troubles  they  are  in  ?’ 
and  secondly,  1  Is  it  expedient  ?’  They  answered 
without  hesitation  that  it  is  lawful,  for  every  subject 
may  appeal  to  his  superior  always,  and  under  all 
circumstances ;  and  expedient,  because  the  troubles 
and  trials  of  the  nuns  would  be  thereby  ended. 

The  Venerable  Anne,  now  that  her  conscience 
was  safe,  sent  to  Borne  a  grave  and  skilful  priest, 
Dr.  Marmol,  a  relative  of  Era  Jerome  of  the  Mother 
of  God.  He  did  his  work  so  well  that  he  obtained 
all  that  Mother  Anne  desired,  and  the  Pontiff  issued 
the  brief  in  their  favour  on  the  5th  of  June  1590, 
confirming  the  constitutions  of  the  nuns,  and  for¬ 
bidding  the  friars  to  make  changes  in  them.  Fra 
Nicolas,  the  vicar  of  the  order,  having  discovered 
w  hat  Mother  Anne  had  done,  summoned  the  pro¬ 
vincials  to  Madrid,  for  the  matter  wras  very  grave. 


218  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

The  assembly  was  held  on  the  eve  of  Pentecost, 
June  9th,  and  St.  John  of  the  Cross  was  elected 
first  definitor  and  consultor. 

Era  Nicolas  had  called  his  brethren  together 
to  determine  what  the  order  should  do  when  the 
nuns  presented  their  brief — for  he  did  not  doubt 
that  a  brief  would  he  obtained — and  to  explain 
certain  difficulties  which  had  arisen  because  the 
powers  of  the  council  had  not  been  accurately 
defined.  He  had  also  determined  to  obtain  their 
consent  to  the  recall  of  Fra  Jerome  from  Portugal, 
of  whom  his  brethren  sent  many  complaints  to 
Spain.  The  chapter  resolved,  that  when  the  brief 
came  the  order  would  cease  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  nuns,  and  would  resign  the  direction 
of  them.  It  was  a  harsh  decision  ;  for  if  the  nuns 
had  done  amiss,  the  friars  of  St.  Teresa  might 
have  been  more  patient  with  their  elder  sisters. 

The  brief  was  brought  to  Spain  about  the  latter 
end  of  August,  shortly  before  the  death  of  the 
Pope,  Sixtus  V.,  and  the  execution  of  it  was  com¬ 
mitted  to  Don  Teutonio,  Archbishop  of  Evora,  and 
Fra  Luis  de  Leon,  one  of  the  professors  of  Sala¬ 
manca  and  an  Augustinian  friar.  The  former 
declined  to  act  under  the  commission,  and  the 
whole  matter  therefore  remained  in  the  hands  of 
Fra  Luis,  who  determined  to  execute  the  brief  at 
once.  Fra  Nicolas,  the  vicar,  having  received 
his  orders,  obeyed,  and  summoned  the  provincials 
to  receive  the  brief.  But  Fra  Nicolas  intended 
to  resist  to  the  uttermost,  and  went  to  the  king 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS,  219 

with  his  grievance,  complaining  of  the  nuns  and 
of  Fra  Luis  de  Leon.  Don  Philip  spoke  to  the 
Nuncio,  who  for  the  sake  of  peace,  and  to  give 
time  for  the  cooling  of  men’s  tempers,  com¬ 
manded  Fr!i  Luis  to  wait  till  he  received  further 
instructions.  The  delay  was  granted,  and  the 
provincials  who  had  come  together  at  the  sum¬ 
mons  of  Fra  Nicolas,  the  vicar,  returned  home 
without  formally  assembling  in  chapter.  Fra  Luis 
waited,  but  no  instructions  were  sent  to  him,  so 
he  determined  to  execute  the  brief  of  the  Pope  ; 
he  issued  his  orders  once  more  to  Fra  Nicolas, 
and  the  provincials  were  summoned  as  before. 
The  vicar  would  not  yield,  and  went  again  to  the 
king  for  help  against  his  own  superiors  in  the 
lawful  exercise  of  their  jurisdiction,  and  begged 
him  to  use  the  civil  power  in  a  purely  ecclesiastical 
matter.  The  chapter  having  met,  according  to 
the  summons  of  the  vicar,  Fra  Luis  entered  to 
present  the  brief ;  but '  before  he  could  do  so,  one 
of  the  king’s  chamberlains  came  in,  and  charged 
the  fathers  assembled,  in  the  king’s  name,  to  do 
nothing  till  he,  the  king,  heard  from  the  Pope, 
to  whom  he  had  sent  an  account  of  the  whole 
dispute. 

It  is  true  that  some  respect  was  shown  to  the 
authority  of  the  Pope,  and  that  the  king  wished  to 
be  thought  even  in  this  an  obedient  son  of  the 
Ptoman  Church;  but  in  substance  it  was  other¬ 
wise,  and  Fra  Luis  de  Leon  on  quitting  the 
chapter  said  aloud,  that  matters  had  conte  to 


220  .  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

sucli  a  pass  that  no  orders  of  his  Holiness  could 
he  executed  in  Spain.  There  was  too  much  truth 
in  the  words  to  he  otherwise  than  displeasing,  to 
the  king ;  for  soon  after  this,  when  the  Augus- 
tinians  of  Castille  were  about  to  elect  Fra  Luis 
as  their  provincial,  the  king  sent  a  message  to 
the  chapter  forbidding  the  election,  and  the  friars 
did  not  think  themselves  strong  enough  to  disobey 
so  unjust  and  unreasonable  an  order. 

Fra  Nicolas  now  brought  the  brief  before  the 
council  of  six,  and  the  members  of  that  council 
were  unable  to  oppose  him.  St.  John  of  the 
Cross  was  suspected  by  his  brethren  of  being  in 
league  with  the  Venerable  Anne  of  Jesus,  and  no 
one  would  listen  therefore  to  him.  Fra  Nicolas 
prevailed  in  the  debate  ;  the  friars  gave  way  before 
his  resolute  will,  and  resolved  that  the  order  should 
cease  to  have  any  relations  with  the  nuns ;  the 
direction  of  whom  they  resigned  into  the  hands 
of  the  Pope.  This  resolution  amazed  all  people, 
and  the  nuns  were  alarmed  beyond  measure ; 
the  injustice  of  it  was  plain,  for  all  the  nuns  had 
never  asked  for  the  brief,  nor  perhaps  wished  to 
be  released  from  the  authority  of  the  council,  yet 
they  were  all  abandoned,  and  in  a  sense  cast  out 
of  the  order. 

Dr.  Banes,  the  Dominican,  who  had  defended 
St.  Teresa  in  Avila  when  the  city  rose  against  her, 
who  was  her  friend  all  the  rest  of  her  life,  and  a 
great  help  to  her  order  everywhere,  could  not  see 
this  •^unmoved,  and  so  he  went  to  Fra  Nicolas  and 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


221 


represented  to  him  the  great  disproportion  between 
the  punishment  and  the  offence.  One  monastery 
had  done  wrong,  and  all  the  others,  even  those 
who  had  no  share  in  it,  wrere  to  he  punished. 

The  iron  will  of  Fra  Nicolas  was  not  to  be  . 
broken  by  the  great  Dominican  ;  and  the  latter,  on 
taking  leave,  said  he  would  do  all  he  could  to  per¬ 
suade  his  own  order  to  receive  the  nuns  now  that 
the  Carmelites  were  sending  them  away.  Fra 
Nicolas  shook  hands  at  parting  with  him,  and 
courteously  said,  ‘  that  it  would  be  the  best  thing 
that  could  happen  to  the  nuns  and  to  his  own 
friars,  for  if  the  Dominicans  accepted  them,  they 
would  be  under  the  care  of  an  order  in  every  way 
so  honourable.’* 

This  was  reported  to  the  king,  who,  disliking 
the  interference,  asked  who  sent  Banes  to  meddle 
with  matters  not  his  own  ?  Perhaps  they  were 
matters  that  belonged  to  Father  Banes  as  much 
as  they  did  to  Don  Philip. 

Fra  Nicolas  may  at  last  have  relented ; 
but  the  king  certainly  did  so,  for  he  saw  that  a 
great  scandal  had  been  wrought :  perhaps  he  was 
not  without  some  misgiving  that  he  had  had 
too  great  a  share  in  it  himself.  He  asked  the 
council  of  the  order  to  resume  the  government 
of  the  nuns,  and  promised  to  obtain  from  his 
Holiness,  Gregory  XIV.,  the  cancelling  of  the 
brief  which  had  been  the  occasion  of  so  much 
strife  and  contention.  The  council  yielded  at  the 
*  Reforma,  cle  los  Descalqos ,  ii.  p.  503, 


222 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


lung’s  request,  but  there  were  members  of  it  who 
yielded  ungraciously,  not  because  they  disliked  the 
royal  interference,  but  because  they  were  angry 
with  the  nuns ;  among  these  was  Fra  Augustin 
of  the  Kings,  who  wished  to  punish  the  Venerable 
Anne  of  Jesus  and  her  monastery  by  driving  her 
and  it  out  of  the  order.  That,  however,  was  not 
done,  for  Fra  Nicolas  thought  the  chastisement 
too  heavy ;  and  so  Mother  Anne  of  Jesus  continued 
a  Carmelite,  but  her  daring  act  was  never  for¬ 
gotten,  and  she  was  ever  afterwards  more  or  less 
suspected  by  the  stern  and  resolute  friends  of  the 
strong-willed  vicar. 

His  Holiness,  Gregory  XIV.,  to  restore  peace 
in  Carmel,  cancelled  the  brief  of  Sixtus  V.,  on  the 
25tli  of  April  1591 ;  and  at  Pentecost  Fra  Nicolas 
held  a  chapter  of  the  order  in  Madrid.  Peace  was 
then  established  between  him  and  the  nuns ;  but 
not  between  him  and  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother 
of  God  and  his  friends. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  had  much  to  suffer  at 
this  time,  and  he  seems  to  have  suffered  in  silence. 
The  Venerable  Anne  of  Jesus  was  a  nun  whom 
he  highly  honoured,  and  in  whom  he  had  great 
confidence,  as  she  had  in  him.  But  as  he  was  not 
able  to  help  her  in  the  council,  where  the  friends 
of  the  vicar  were  too  powerful,  he  submitted  to  his 
superior.  He  was  not  disturbed  when  the  troubles 
began,  for  he  knew  by  revelation  that  they  would 
pass  quickly  away.  While  he  was  yet  in  Segovia, 
before  he  was  summoned  to  Madrid,  he  said  so  to 


LIFE  05?  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  223 

the  prioress  there ;  who,  being  in  great  doubts  and 
fear,  unable  to  sleep  because  of  her  distress,  sent 
for  the  servant  of  God,  and  begged  light  of  biro  in 
the  great  straits  she  was  in ;  for  she  must  either 
separate  herself  from  her  sisters,  so  she  thought, 
in  the  other  monasteries,  or  seem  to  rise  in  rebel¬ 
lion  against  her  immediate  superiors.  The  saint 
bade  her  be  of  good  cheer,  the  cloud  would  soon 
be  scattered,  and  the  order  would  be  in  peace. 

He  spoke  truly,  but  it  brought  no  peace  for 
him.  The  vicar-general  himself,  and  many  of 
the  friars,  distrusted  the  saint,  suspecting  him  of 
having  fostered  what  they  regarded  as  the  spirit  of 
rebellion  among  the  nuns.  Their  suspicions,  ut¬ 
terly  unjust,  were  grounded  on  his  friendship  with 
Anne  of  Jesus,  and  on  her  confidence  in  and  great 
respect  for  him,  on  the  o’ne  hand;  and  on  the  other 
hand,  on  the  fact  that  Fra  Luis  de  Leon,  who  was 
in  the  confidence  of  the  nuns,  while  attempting  to 
execute  the  Papal  brief,  suggested  to  the  friars  the 
election  of  either  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of 
God  or  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross  as  visitor  of 
the  nuns.  This  showed,  as  many  of  the  friars 
thought,  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  nuns  to 
he  on  the  side  of  Fra  Jerome,  against  the  vicar, 
in  whom  the  friars  trusted  more  than  in  their 
former  provincial.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  also, 
though  not  wholly  approving  of  Fra  Jerome’s  ad¬ 
ministration,  had  nevertheless  always  defended 
him,  and  so  far  as  he  could  had  stood  between 
him  and  the  ruin  which  he  foresaw. 


224 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


Thus  matters  stood  in  the  order  when  the 
summons  of  Fra  Nicolas  reached  St.  John  of  the 
Cross  in  Segovia,  commanding  his  presence  in  the 
chapter,  which  was  to  he  opened  on  Whitsun-eve, 
June  1,  of  this  year,  1591.  Before  quitting  Se¬ 
govia  he  went  to  take  leave  of  the  nuns,  know¬ 
ing  he  should  see  them  no  more ;  and  on  their 
saying  to  him  that  he  would  return  from  the 
chapter  as  provincial,  he  replied  pleasantly,  hut 
quite  gravely,  that  God  would  not  punish  the 
province  so  heavily  by  giving  it  to  him ;  then  he 
added,  that  the  chapter  would  make  no  account  of 
him,  and  would  throw  him  into  a  corner  out  of 
the  way.  To  others  he  spoke  of  the  troubles  be¬ 
fore  him,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  lead  them  never 
to  blame  the  order  for  anything  it  might  do  or 
suffer  to  be  done  to  him. 

The  first  sign  of  the  tempest  was  seen  in  the 
elections  made  in  the  chapter ;  nobody  gave  his 
voice  for  the  first  friar  of  the  reform.  He  -was  not 
elected  definitor,  nor  one  of  the  council ;  neither 
was  he  made  a  provincial.  But  his  brethren  con¬ 
sented  to  his  request  that  he  might  be  elected 
provincial  of  Mexico.  Then,  when  the  elections 
were  over,  and  the  affairs  of  the  order  were  dis¬ 
cussed,  St.  John  of  the  Cross  represented  that 
the  decrees  and  constitutions  were  too  many,  and 
some  of  them  at  variance  with  the  others.  He 
also  spoke  in  favour  of  Fra  Jerome,  and. urged 
upon  his  brethren  the  necessity  of  dealing  tenderly 
with  the  nuns.  The  order  ought  to  remember,  he 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  225 

said,  that  they  were  the  cherished  children  of  St. 
Teresa,  and  that  great  allowances  should  be  made 
for  them  in  the  troubles  which  had  arisen. 

This  defence  of  the  nuns  confirmed  the  sus¬ 
picions  rife  among  the  friars  that  the  saint  was 
in  league  with  the  nuns.  So  Fra  Nicolas,  to  put 
an  end  to  their  expectations,  immediately  relieved 
St.  John  of  the  Cross  of  the  provincialate  of  Mexico. 
If  the  brief  should  be  put  in  execution,  and  the 
king  failed  to  have  it  cancelled,  it  would  be  then 
impossible  to  make  St.  John  of  the  Cross  visitor 
of  the  nuns ;  for  the  visitor  must  be  a  prelate  in 
the  order,  and  the  saint  was  now  a  simple  friar, 
without  rank  or  authority  among  his  brethren. 
Thus  Fra  Nicolas  was  prepared  for  whatever  might 
happen. 

The  saint,  finding  himself  at  last  in  the  very 
state  for  which  he  had  so  earnestly  longed,  free  from 
the  cares  and  honours  of  office,  gave  thanks  to  God, 
for  now  his  prayers  were  heard.  He  was  no  longer 
in  authority.  He  then  begged  the  vicar  to  allow 
him  to  live  in  Penuela,  one  of  the  most  austere 
houses  in  the  order.  The  vicar  gave  him  leave 
to  do  so,  but  a  few  days  later  the  friars  learned 
that  the  brief  had  been  cancelled,  and  that  there 
could  be  no  further  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 
nuns.  This  changed  the  whole  matter,  and  there 
was  no  reason  now  for  continuing  the  disgrace  of 
the  saint.  Fra  Nicolas,  the  vicar,  also  relented, 
and  was  very  sorry  that  he  had  been  carried  away 
by  his  zeal ;  and  now,  seeing  that  he  had  dealt 

Q 


226 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


hardly  with  the  saint,  who  was  one  of  the  pillars 
of  the  order,  and  who  had  done  so  much  for  it, 
tried  to  persuade  him  to  return  as  prior  to  Segovia, 
and  forego  his  purpose  of  retiring  to  Penuela; 
but  he  could  not  prevail.  The  servant  of  God 
had  obtained  what  he  had  so  earnestly  prayed  for, 
and  he  was  now  going  to  take  possession  of  his 
rest ;  to  live  unknown  and  despised,  'thirsting  for 
the  chalice  which  our  Lord  had  so  lovingly  pro¬ 
mised  him. 

It  cost  him  some  trouble  to  resist  the  impor¬ 
tunities  of  his  friends,  who  wished  him  to  return 
to  Segovia,  though  it  is  probable  that  Fra  Nicolas, 
the  vicar,  would  not,  of  his  own  will,  have  pressed 
him  much.  On  the  6th  of  July  the  matter  was 
not  settled,  for  on  that  day  he  wrote  from  Madrid 
to  one  of  the  nuns  in  Segovia,  saying  that  he  feared 
they  would  send  him  back,  but  that  he  would  do 
his  utmost  to  escape  from  all  charges  in  the 
order. 

At  last  he  was  free.  He  went  to  Segovia  from 
Madrid,  but  tarried  there  only  a  day  or  two.  His 
friends  gathered  around  him,  and  begged  him  to 
remain  there ;  to  all  of  them  he  replied,  with  his 
wonted  tenderness,  that  it  was  not  possible  for 
him  to  do  so.  He  must  go  to  Penuela.  Doha 
Ana  de  Penalosa,  his  friend  and  penitent,  entreated 
him  to  remain,  or  at  least  promise  to  return,  and 
he  was  equally  deaf  to  the  prayers  of  that  saintly 
widow.  At  last  he  said  to  her,  ‘  No,  I  shall  never 
return,  but  one  day  you  will  bring  me  back.’  The 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


227 


words  were  afterwards  fulfilled,  as  wTe  shall  see 
later  on. 

Some  time  in  July  of  this  year,  1591,  he 
reached  Penuela,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  friars,  who, 
with  their  prior,  Fra  Diego  of  the  Incarnation, 
once  his  novice,  contrived  to  become  novices  again 
under  him.  The  holy  man  was  consulted  by  all 
on  all  occasions,  and  the  monastery  renewed  its 
strength ;  but  as  he  had  come  thither  to  take  care 
of  his  own  soul,  and  had  taken  leave  of  honour  and 
of  rank,  he  took  his  place  as  a  simple  friar  in  the 
house,  and  submitted  to  its  discipline  like  the  rest, 
asking  for  no  dispensations.  He  spent  his  whole 
time  in  prayer  ;  in  the  morning,  after  Mass,  he 
would  ask  leave  of  the  prior  to  go  forth  into  the 
mountain,  where  he  would  remain  till  he  heard 
the  bell  of  the  monastery.  He  would  then  return, 
and  after  Vespers  wrnuld  go  out,  again  returning 
for  the  evening  prayer.  He  was  found  one  day 
on  the  mountain  by  one  of  his  penitents,  who  said 
to  him,  ‘  Is  it  possible  you  can  always  like  to  be 
amid  these  rocks  ?’ 

The  saint  replied  humbly,  *  You  must  not  be 
surprised,  for  I  have  less  to  confess  when  I  am 
amidst  these  rocks  than  when  I  am  among  men.’ 

The  prior  of  Penuela  testified  afterwards  that 
the  servant  of  God  lived  in  the  house  as  obedient 
as  a  novice,  and  that  his  austerities — he  seems  to 
have  tolerated  them  against  his  own  judgment,  out 
of  reverence  for  the  saint — were  so  great,  that  his 
continuing  to  live  was  itself  a  miracle.  His  sleep 


228  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

was  so  brief  and  bis  prayer  was  so  constant ;  for 
whenever  any  one  went  to  his  cell  he  was  always 
found  on  his  knees. 

His  strength  was  gone  from  him,  and  the 
wasted  body  confessed  that  the  spirit  within  was 
stronger  than  itself.  And  now,  when  worn  out 
by  his  unceasing  penances,  he  received  an  order 
from  the  council  to  go,  with  twelve  others,  to  the 
Indies.  His  brethren  in  Pehuela,  seeing  how  un¬ 
reasonable,  under  the  circumstances,  such  an  order 
was,  begged  him  to  represent  to  the  friars  who  had 
sent  it  the  ruined  state  of  his  health.  He  would 
not  do  it,  and  said  that  to  die  under  obedience 
would  be  his  joy;  and  then,  as  if  answering  them, 
— for  the  order  was  believed  to  be  the  result  of  a 
wish  to  remove  him  from  Spain,  lest  he  should 
defend  Fra  Jerome  too  well, — added,  ‘Would  you 
have  me  not  drink  the  chalice  which  my  Father 
has  sent  me  ?’  His  brethren  could  do  no  more, 
and  he  at  once  wrote  to  Fra  John  of  St.  Anne  to 
find  the  twelve  friars  who  would  go  with  him  to 
the  Indies.*  . 

But  while  Fra  John  was  searching  for  the 
friars,  God  Himself  laid  His  hands  on  His  servant, 
and  sent  him  a  burning  fever  to  consume  his  body, 
as  another  fever  was  consuming  his  most  pure 
soul.  He  could  not  conceal  his  illness  now ;  and 
the  provincial  of  Upper  Andalucia,  his  old  com¬ 
panion  in  Duruelo,  where  the  order  began,  Fra 
Antonio  of  Jesus,  having  heard  of  it,  wrote  to  him 
*  Joseph  de  Jesus  Maria,  p.  405. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


229 


and  begged  him  to  remove  to  Baeza  or  to  Ubeda, 
where  he  could  be  attended  to  in  his  sickness 
better  than  in  so  austere  a  monastery  as  that  of 
Penuela.  He  also  charged  the  prior  of  Penuela 
to  see  that  his  orders  were  obeyed.  The  prior 
and  the  friars  then  begged  the  saint  to  choose 
Baeza ;  they  knew  he  would  be  taken  care  of  there, 
for  he  wTas  the  founder  of  the  house,  and  its  then 
prior  was  Fra  Angel  of  the  Presentation,  who  had 
a  great  affection  for  the  servant  of  God.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  prior  of  Ubeda  was  known  to  be 
otherwise  disposed,  and  to  be  very  unfriendly. 
That  was  enough  for  St.  John  of  the  Cross  ;  as  he 
was  allowed  to  choose,  he  chose  to  put  himself  in 
the  hands  of  the  prior  of  Ubeda,  and  asked  to  be 
sent  thither;  and  thither  he  went,  but  with  great 
difficulty,  because  of  his  bodily  weakness,  on  21st 
September  1591. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


A  great  cross  —  Illness  of  the  saint  —  Harshness  of  the 
Prior  of  Ubeda— Visit  of  Fra  Antonio. 

W  hile  the  saint  was  living  in  Penuela,  his  bre¬ 
thren  were  preparing  another  cross  for  him,  which 
is  one  of  the  hardest  to  bear— the  contradiction  of 
good  men.  His  good  name  and  spotless  life  were 
made  the  sport  of  idle  tongues,  and  one  of  the 
members  of  the  council  went  from  monastery  to 
monastery  gathering  materials  to  bring  grave 
charges  against  him,  hoping  for  his  expulsion 
fiorn  the  order  which  he  had  helped  to  found. 
"When  he  heard  of  it,  he  not  only  made  no  com¬ 
plaint,  but  even  defended  his  persecutors,  and 
made  what  excuses  he  could  for  them,  saying  that 

he  was  so  unworthy  himself  that  he  deserved  no 
better  treatment. 

The  souice  of  this  trouble  was  Fra  Diego  of 
the  Evangelist,  who,  when  he  was  a  friar  in  Seville, 
had  to  bear,  and  bore  ungraciously,  the  correction 
of  the  saint,  then  his  superior.  The  servant  of 
God,  elected  vicar  provincial  in  the  chapter  of 
Pastrana  in  1585 ,*  found,  in  the  discharge  of 

See  ch.  xiv. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


231 


his  duties,  that  strict  observance  was  not  kept  in 
the  monastery  of  Seville.  In  that  house  were  two 
friars,  great  preachers,  wise  and  discreet  in  the 
estimation  of  people  who  could  never  see  them  too 
often  in  their  houses.  The  friars  were  certainly 
men  of  zeal,  and  very  readily  gave  themselves  up 
to  good  works  with  which  they  had  nothing  to  do. 
They  were  continually  busy,  absent  from  choir,  re¬ 
fectory,  and  recreation,  scarcely  ever  in  their  cells, 
and  the  more  effectually  to  do  good  among  people 
in  the  world,  dressed  themselves  not  quite  like  the 
other  friars  of  Carmel. 

St.  John  of  the  Cross  came  to  Seville,  and 
understanding  his  vocation  in  a  sense  wholly  the 
reverse  of  that  in  which  the  friars  understood  it, 
made  use  of  the  powers  of  his  office,  and  recalled 
them  to  the  observance  o.  the  rule  and  constitu¬ 
tions.  They  had  to  preach  fewer  or  no  sermons, 
for  the  saint  did  not  think  they  were  the  only 
preachers  in  Seville,  and  the}7  had  to  be  present 
in  choir,  to  take  their  meals  with  the  community, 
and  to  abstain  from  the  flesh -meats  which,  to 
avoid  inconveniencing  others,  they  ate  in  the 
house  of  their  friends.  The  discipline  was  sharp, 
but  it  was  submitted  to,'  though  not  with  a  good 
will,  and  the  two  friars,  unhappily,  never  wholly 
forgot  the  author  of  their  humiliation,  for  so  they 
regarded  the  observance  of  the  rule. 

One  of  them,  Fra  Diego,  was  now  in  the  council 
of  the  order;  and  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  the  merci¬ 
less  visitor,  was  a  friar  without  rank  or  office. 


232  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

The -opportunity  came,  and  Fra  Diego  did  not  ne¬ 
glect  it.  He  had  authority  from  the  vicar,  Fra 
Nicolas,  to  make  certain  inquisitions  into  the  life 
and  conduct  of  Fra  Jerome  of  the  Mother  of  God, 
whom  his  superiors  now  regarded  as  disobedient ; 
out  he  had  no  authority  to  make  any  inquiries 
touching  the  life  and  conduct  of  St.  John  of  the 
Cross.  Nevertheless  he  displayed  as  much  zeal  in 
searching  out  proofs  of  shortcomings  in  the  saint 
as  he  did  in  searching  for  proofs  against  Fra 
Jerome,  and  by  threats  and  terrors  extorted  ad¬ 
missions  from  some  of  the  nuns  which  they  after¬ 
wards  recalled.  In  some  instances  he  represented 
them  as  having  said  what  they  never  even 
imagined.  The  publicity  with  which  Fra  Diego 
carried  on  his  work  caused  some  of  the  friars  to 
believe  that  he  had  a  commission  for  the  purpose, 
and  many  of  those,  formerly  friends  of  the  saint, 
and  who  had  letters  of  his  in  their  possession — 
letters  of  spiritual  advice — in  their  terror  burnt 
them,  to  the  great  loss  of  all  men,  lest  they  should 
be  molested  themselves. 

Fra  Diego  was  carried  away  by  passion,  and 
forgetting  the  holy  life  of  the  saint  wdiom  he  was 
accusing,  scrupled  not  to  speak  against  him  even 
in  public ;  so  confident  wTas  he  that  he  would  he 
able  to  justify  his  suspicions.  Fie  wTent  so  far  as 
to  say  that  he  would  he  sent  to  the  galleys  for  the 
wickedness  of  his  life.  Most  people  wrere  shocked 
by  so  much  malice ;  but  the  more  timid  gave  w:ay, 
afraid  of  Fra  Diego.  They  did  not  like  to  resist 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  233 

him,  and  deluding  themselves  into  the  belief  that 
he  could  not  do  what  he  was  doing  without  good 
reason,  began  to  fear  that  the  saintly  life  of  the 
servant  of  God  had  been  a  grand  hypocrisy,  un¬ 
veiled  at  last.  Others  certainly  there  were  who, 
indignant  at  the  proceedings,  blamed  even  their 
supeiiois,  and  especially  Fra  Nicolas,  the  vicar, 
for  they  could  not  believe  that  Fra  Diego  was 

acting  thus  publicly  without  authority  from  the 
vicar. 

When  Fra  Diego  had  collected  his  materials, 
he  sent  them  in  to  the  council,  and  then  Fra 
Nicolas  saw  the  papers.  But  the  instant  he  ascer¬ 
tained  what  they  were,  he  would  read  no  more, 
saying  that  F ra  Diego  had  acted  without  instruc¬ 
tions.  That  was  so,  no  doubt,  but  it  was  hoped 
that  the  vicar  would  chastise  the  friar  who  had 
caused  so  much  scandal.  Fra  Nicolas  did  not 
punish  him,  but  he  did  reserve  his  fault  for  the 
consideration  of  the  next  chapter.  Into  that 
chapter  Fra  Nicolas  never  came,  for  he  died  before 
it  was  assembled,  May  9,  1594.  His  successor, 
Fia  Elias  of  St.  Martin,  burned  the  papers  and 
allowed  none  to  see  them.  He  was  also  displeased 
with  Fra  Diego,  though  not  so  much  so  as  to  put 
him  to  penance ;  nevertheless,  he  made  him  see  in 
some  measure  the  evil  he  had  done,  for  he  refused 
at  first  to  confirm  his  election  as  provincial  of 
Granada. 

But  Fra  Diego,  notwithstanding  all  this,  had 
friends  in  the  order,  and  these  friends  prevailed ; 


284 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


the  new  vicar  relented,  and  so,  to  the  great  terror 
of  the  nuns,  Fra  Diego  became  provincial  of  Gra¬ 
nada.  He  never  exercised  his  office,  for  he  was 
taken  ill  in  Alcala  la  Real  on  his  way  to  the 
province,  and  there  died. 

Fra  Diego  had  been  corrected  for  his  inobser¬ 
vances  by  the  saint,  and  felt  the  smarting  of  the 
scourge.  Unhumbled  he  retaliated,  and  probably 
found  others  of  like  mind  to  encourage  him.  Fra 
Nicolas,  the  vicar,  too,  was  not  always  well  disposed 
towards  the  saint,  and  he  was  afraid  of  him  and 
his  influence  in  the  order.  But  he  had  a  reason 
for  his  fear  sufficiently  strong  to  justify  him ;  the 
saint  was  always  defending  Fra  Jerome  of  the 
Mother  of  God,  and  Fra  Nicolas  felt  that  his  af¬ 
fection  for  that  father  was  a  real  danger  to  the 
order,  and  that  laxity  might  creep  in  through  the 
influence  of  Fra  Jerome  and  the  perfect  submis¬ 
siveness  to  his  superiors  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross. 
Besides,  Fra  Nicolas  so  utterly  disapproved  of  the 
acts  of  the  Venerable  Anne  of  Jesus  that  he  could 
not  help  disliking  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  who  was 
her  friend,  and  perhaps  also  had  encouraged  her, 
according  to  his  imagination,  in  the  resistance  she 
made  to  the  new  form  of  government  brought  in 
by  himself.  Fra  Nicolas  certainly  was  a  noble 
person,  grand,  austere,  even  if  a  little  inconsider¬ 
ate  towards  others.  His  life  was  spent  in  and  for 
the  order,  and  the  very  saints  of  God  in  this 
miserable  life  are  not  always  able  to  understand 
one  another. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  235 

The  servant  of  God  was  in  the  furnace  of  this 
persecution  when  God  sent  him  his  last  illness  in 
Pehuela.  He  concealed  his  state  for  a  fortnight 
from  all  in  the  house,  but  at  last  the  swelling  of 
his  foot  was  discovered,  and  the  friars  were  ex¬ 
tremely  distressed,  and  informed  the  provincial 
of  the  state  he  was  in.  Fra  Antonio  could  not 
then  go  to  Pehuela,  but  he  wrote  a  consoling  let¬ 
ter  to  the  saint,  and  begged  him  to  leave  Pehuela 
for  Baeza  or  Ubeda.  The  servant  of  God,  thirst¬ 
ing  for  the  chalice  of  suffering,  chose  Ubeda,  to 
the  great  distress  of  Fra  Diego  of  the  Incarnation, 
for  the  prior  of  that  house  was  Fra  Francis  of  St. 
Chrysostom,  the  learned  and  popular  preacher, 
whom,  together  with  Fra  Diego  of  the  Evangelist, 
the  saint  had  corrected  in  Seville  when  he  was 
visitor  of  Andalucia. 

A  lay  brother,  Francis  of  St.  Hilarion,  was  also 
unwell,  and  the  prior  wished  to  send  him  with  the 
saint  to  Ubeda.  Brother  Francis,  knowing  this, 
went  to  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  and  begged  him  to 
change  his  resolution  and  go  to  Baeza.  The  ser¬ 
vant  of  God  would  not  throw  away  the  cross  that 
he  felt  within  his  grasp,  and  therefore  would  not 
listen  to  the  brother ;  but  he  would  not  take  him 
into  the  furnace  against  his  will,  so  he  persuaded 
the  prior  to  send  Brother  Francis  to  Baeza. 

In  a  letter  to  his  friend  and  penitent,  Dona 
Ana  de  Penalosa,  written  in  Pehuela,  September  21, 
1591,  he  says  :  ‘lam  going  to-morrow  to  Ubeda, 
to  be  cured  of  some  slight  attacks  of  fever  of  which 


236  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

I  have  been  suffering  daily  for  a  little  more  than 
a  week.’  Though  he  made  light  of  the  fever,  yet 
he  was  obliged  to  wrrite  but  a  short  letter,  saying, 
‘The  fever  will  not  let  me  write  more;’  and  in 
truth  the  fever  was  a  very  serious  one. 

On  the  22d  day  of  September  1591,  the  ser¬ 
vant  of  God  went  away  from  Pehuela  in  the  charge 
of  a  lay  brother.  It  was  his  last  Journey,  and  he 
could  not  do  it  on  foot,  as  he  wished,  for  he  was  a 
poor  friar  unto  the  end.  Every  step  of  the  way 
did  but  increase  his  sufferings,  and  make  his 
disease  the  more  deadly.  When  they  came  near 
the  bridge  over  the  Guadalimar,  the  brother  said 
he  might  dismount,  and  rest  under  the  shadow  of 
the  bridge,  and  take  something  to  eat. 

‘  I  should  be  very. glad,’  replied  the  saint,  ‘  of 
a  little  rest ;  but  as  for  eating,  I  can  eat  nothing.’ 

‘  Is  there  nothing,  then,’  asked  the  lay  brother, 

‘  that  your  reverence  could  eat  ?’ 

The  saint  said  that  he  could  eat  some  aspara¬ 
gus,  ‘  but  where  to  find  them  at  this  season  of  the 
year  ?’ 

At  the  bridge  he  dismounted  with  the  help  of 
the  lay  brother,  and  having  sat  down  in  the  shade, 
he  continued  his  conversation,  always  marvellous, 
about  God.  He  was  now  moved  by  the  beauty  of 
the  running  "water,  and  the  solitude  they  were  in, 
to  speak  more  wondrously  still.  TV  liile  looking 
at  the  river,  they  saw  on  a  jutting  stone  close  by 
them  a  bundle  of  asparagus,  tied  with  twigs.  The 
lay  brother  was  amazed  at  the  sight,  and  took  the 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  237 

asparagus.  The  servant  of  God  suggested  to  him, 
lest  he  should  discern  the  miracle,  that  somebody 
might  have  left  them  there ;  and  made  him  look 
around  to  see  whether  there  was  any  one  in  sight. 
The  brother  obeyed,  but  he  saw  nobody,  and  in¬ 
deed  there  was  nobody  to  he  seen.  The  saint  then 
consented  to  his  keeping  the  asparagus,  hut  on  the 
condition  of  his  leaving  some  money  on  the  stone, 
by  way  of  compensation  to  the  owner  if  any  should 
appear.  The  lay  brother  did  as  he  was  hid,  and 
took  the  asparagus  to  Ubeda,  where  the  friars 
looked  at  them  with  wonder. 

The  saint  was  very  ill  on  his  arrival,  hut  the 
prior  was  not  moved  to  compassion  when  he  saw 
him.  He  had  neither  forgotten  nor  forgiven  the 
saint ;  and  he  was  now  the  less  disposed  to  serve 
him,  for  the  order  seemed  to  be  weary  of  him,  and 
a  member  of  the  council  was  seeking  proofs  of 
grave  charges  against  him  for  the  purpose  of  driv¬ 
ing  him  out.  Thus  the  saint  came  under  a  cloud 
to  the  house  of  an  unfriendly  prior,  in  great  bodily 
sufferings,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  all  the  friends 
who  could  have  succoured  him  had  they  been  near , 
at  hand. 

•  The  journey  had  made  him  much  worse,  and 
the  next  day  there  were  no  less  than  five  running 
sores  on  his  foot.  The  surgeon,  Martin  de  Villa- 
roel,  saw  no  way  of  relief  but  in  cutting  the  flesh, 
which  he  did,  and  thereby  laid  bare  the  very  bones 
within.  The  saint  seemed  to  suffer  no  pain,  and 
the  bystanders  observed  no  sign  of  suffering. 


238 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


When  the  surgeon  had  done,  he  asked  him  when 
he  was  going  to  begin.  The  surgeon,  in  astonish¬ 
ment,  replied  that  he  had  finished.  The  saint 
had  been  in  an  ecstasy  during  the  operation,  and 
now,  even  when  awake,  he  felt  no  pain,  and  did 
not  even  know  what  the  surgeon  had  done.  So  he 
said  to  him  that  he  was  ready  to  suffer  if  more 
suffering  were  in  store  for  him. 

The  pain  of  his  disease  seems  to  have  grown 
more  and  more,  yet  he  never  spoke  hut  to  give 
thanks  unto  God.  For  every  little  help  given  him 
by  the  infirmarian  he  was  always  grateful,  begging 
his  forgiveness  for  the  trouble  he  gave  him  ;  but 
when  the  pain  was  more  severe  than  usual,  he 
would  say,  4  This  is  my  rest  for  ever as  ix  pray¬ 
ing  God  never  to  let  him  he  at  ease  again  in  this 
world,  so  great  was  his  thirst  for  suffering.  Those 
who  saw  him  at  first  did  not  know  how  much  he 
suffered,  for  he  hid  from  them  the  knowledge  of 
his  state.  But  one  day  Fra  Bartholomew  of  St. 
Basil  discovered  accidentally  what  nobody  had 
suspected.  He  had  lifted  him  up  from  the  bed 
whereon  he  was  lying,  and  had  laid  him  on  a 
mattress  that  he  might  rearrange  it.  Having  made 
the  bed  ready,  he  went  to  the  saint,  and  as  he  was 
stooping  down  to  lift  him  up,  the  servant  of  God, 
hardly  able  to  move,  begged  him  to  let  him  get 
into  his  bed  as  well  as  he  could  by  himself.  Fra 
Bartholomew  yielded,  but  he  asked  the  saint  why 
he  thus  mortified  him  by  refusing  his  help  when 
it  was  so  needful.  The  saint  told  him  that  he 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  239 

could  not  bear  being  touched,  and  then  Fra 
Bartholomew  found  a  huge  abscess  between  the 
shoulders,  which  being  cut  the  next  day,  .dis¬ 
charged  abundant  matter. 

The  surgeon  wondered  at  the  patience  of  the 
saint,  for  he  did  not  think  that  man  could  bear 
such  sufferings  and  live ;  the  servant  of  God  made 
light  of  them,  partly  to  hide  them  from  others, 
and  partly  because  he  thirsted  for  more,  and  his 
holy  conversation  with  the  surgeon  bore  good  fruit, 
for  he  became  another  man  from  that  time  forth. 

The  prior  of  the  house,  blinded  by  his  passion, 
refused  even  the  ordinary  succours  to  the  saint. 
He  would  go  to  see  him  from  time  to  time,  but 
not  to  comfort  him ;  nor  did  he  conceal  from  him 
that  he  had  not  yet  forgiven  him  the  correction 
ministered  in  Seville.  Besides,  when  any  charit¬ 
able  person  sent  anything  for  the  use  of  the  saint 
to  the  monastery,  the  prior  would  send  it  back, 
saying  that  nothing  was  wanting,  and  then  would 
tell  the  saint  what  he  had  done,  for  the  purpose 
of  increasing  his  distress.  At  another  time  he 
would  accept  the  gifts  sent  in,  and  tell  him  that 
he  had  done  so,  but  even  on  such  occasions  none 
of  them  were  even  offered  to  the  servant  of  God ; 
the  prior  refused  him  all  but  the  ordinary  food  of 
the  house. 

Not  satisfied  with  mortifying  the  saint,  as  he 
thought,  in  this  way,  he  laboured  to  make  his 
brethren  think  ill  of  him.  He  would  speak  of  him 
as  of  one  who  consulted  his  own  interests  and 


240  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

sought  his  own  comforts,  as  an  enemy  to  strict 
observance  and  given  to  laxity;  hut  during  his 
whole  illness  the  servant  of  God  never  asked  for 
anything,  and  never  complained  of  the  absence  of 
all  things,  and  the  infirmarian  had  to  watch  him 
carefully  in  order  to  discover,  if  possible,  what  he( 
might  he  at  any  time  in  need  of.  Some  pious 
ladies,  when  they  heard  of  his  painful  illness, 
undertook  to  wash  the  linen  used  in  dressing  his 
sores,  for  the  monastery  could  not  do  it  so  well. 
This  act  of  charity  became  known  to  the  prior,  and 
was  instantly  forbidden ;  he  would  not  allow  such 
excessive  indulgence ;  it  was  against  the  poverty 
of  the  order.  The  friars  were  greatly  hurt  at  this 
unnecessary  strictness,  and,  on  the  urgent  repre¬ 
sentations  of  some  of  them,  the  prior  consented  to 
leave  that  matter  alone. 

The'  friars  had  been  strictly  forbidden  by  the 
prior  to  visit  the  saint  in  his  sickness  without  his 
leave,  and  that  leave  he  refused  absolutely  to  all 
whom  he  thought  the  saint  would  he  glad  to  see. 
The  prior  of  Pehuela  came  to  Ubeda  to  see  the 
saint,  and  was  greatly  distressed  at  the  treatment 
he  was  undergoing.  He  knew  that  it  was  an  act 
of  great  forbearance  on  the  part  of  the  saint  that 
the  harsh  prior  had  not  been  more  severely  pun¬ 
ished  in  Seville  for  his  careless  life.  And  now  the 
prior  was  returning  evil  for  good  to  one  of  the 
chief  pillars  of  the  reform.  So  completely  satis¬ 
fied  was  the  prior  wTith  himself,  that  he  actually 
complained  to  the  prior  of  Pehuela  of  the  diffi- 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


241 


culties  lie  had  in  providing  for  his  friars,  because 
so  much  had  to  he  done  for  St.  John  of  the  Cross. 
The  prior  of  Pehuela  was  surprised  and  vexed  at 
so  much  heartlessness,  and  undertook  at  once, 
out  of  his  own  poverty,  to  send  provisions  from  his 
own  house  for  the  friars  who  were  supposed  to  be 
ill-fed,  while  the  saint  wras  neglected  in  the  in¬ 
firmary. 

At  last  the  prior  of  Ubeda,  to  harass  the  saint 
still  further,  removed  the  infirmarian  from  his 
office,  and  charged  him  to  do  nothing  more  for 
the  service  of  the  sick.  Fra  Bernardo  obeyed,  as 
he  was  bound  to  do,  but  he  found  means  to  send 
a  message  to  Fra  Antonio,  the  provincial,  the  old 
companion  of  the  saint,  and  to  let  him  know  how 
the  first  friar  who  put  on  the  habit  of  the  reform 
was  treated  in  the  monastery  of  Ubeda. 


B 


CHAPTER  XX. 


Fra  Antonio  visits  the  saint  —  The  prior  relents — Dona 
Clara  de  Benavides — Ines  and  Catherine  de  Salazar. 

Fra  Antonio  of  Jesus,  when  he  received  the  mess¬ 
age  of  Fra  Bernardo,  came  in  all  haste  to  Ubeda, 
greatly  displeased  with  the  prior,  and  full  of  sorrow 
on  account  of  the  servant  of  God.  He  reprimanded 
the  prior  with  great  severity,  and  went  to  the  in¬ 
firmary  to  console  the  suffering  saint.  He  saw 
there  a  sight  which  moved  him  profoundly,  and 
which  he  wished  all  the  world  to  see  as  wTell  as 
himself.  The  door  of  the  infirmary  was  thrown 
open,  and  all  the  friars  were  bidden  to  enter  that 
they  might  see  their  brother.  *  He  then  told  the 
prior  that  they  ought  to  open  even  the  gates  of 
the  monastery,  so  that  all  the  w^orld  might  see  a 
saint.  Fra  Antonio  knew  the  treasure  which  the 
house  possessed,  though  the  prior  could  not.  He 
told  the  infirmarian  to  see  that  all  the  wants  of 
the  servant  of  God  were  supplied,  and  to  supply 
them  even  if  the  prior  should  fall  back  again  into 
his  former  hardness  of  heart ;  he,  Fra  Antonio, 
wrouJd  find  means  to  defray  all  the  charges,  what- 
evei  they  might  be. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


243 


Fra  Antonio,  having  remained  about  four  or 
five  days  in  the  monastery,  went  his  way.  But 
his  visit  wrought  a  change  in  the  prior  which  was 
felt  throughout  the  community.  The  friars  had 
been  always  uneasy  and  discontented  under  his 
government,  for  they  suffered  from  his  overbearing 
temper  and  inexperience  in  authority.  Now,  after 
the  reprimand  of  the  provincial,  he  entered  into 
himself,  and  resolved  on  leading  a  life  of  greater 
circumspection.  He  went  to  the  infirmary,  and 
there,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  begged  the  saint's 
forgiveness,  and  finally  his  counsel  in  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  house.  He  seemed  a  changed  man, 
inwardly  as  well  as  outwardly  ;  and  truly  sorry  for 
his  past  neglect,  treated  the  servant  of  God  with 
great  reverence,  and  indeed,  after  his  death,  he 
carried  relics  of  him  for  a  time  about  his  person. 
But  he  did  not  persevere ;  the  old  habit  of  going 
about  the  country  preaching,  and  the  old  zeal  for 
good  works  which  were  not  his  own,  reasserted  its 
ancient  sway. 

He  obtained  privileges  and  dispensations,  gave 
himself  up  to  good  works  outside  his  monastery, 
and  to  which  he  was  not  called,  because  he  was 
called  to  Carmel,  and  in  the  end  the  unhappy 
man  died  far  away  from  any  of  his  brethren,  and 
was  thus  deprived  of  the  help  which  they  might 
have  given  him  in  the  hour  of  his  greatest  danger. 

Now  that  the  prior  himself  treated  the  saint 
with  some  consideration,  the  infirmarian  asked  to 
be  allowed  to  have  some  music  in  another  room, 


244 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CP^OSS. 


where  the  servant  of  God  could  hear  it,  and  thereby 
forget  for  a  while  the  great  pain  he  was  suffering. 
The  servant  of  God  would  not  consent  to  any  such 
devices ;  he  wrould  suffer  thankfully  as  God  willed 
'  it,  and  seek  no  means  of  relief  till  it  pleased  God 
Himself  to  send  them.  The  infirmarian,  however, 
repeated  his  request,  and  received  the  same  answer, 
but  on  his  making  it  a  third  time  the  saint  con¬ 
sented.  The  musicians  were  brought  in,  and  when 
they  had  played  for  some  time  the  infirmarian  went 
in  to  the  saint  and  asked  him  how  he  liked  the 
music.  The  servant  of  God  said  he  had  not  heard 
it,  and  it  appeared  that  he  had  been  in  a  trance 
the  whole  time,  occupied  with  God  in  prayer,  and 
his  ears  closed  to  all  earthly  sounds.  He  then 
begged  that  the  musicians  might  not  he  further 
troubled ;  he  was  very  grateful  to  them  for  their 
kindnesses,  and  to  the  father  who  had  brought 
them  into  the  house.  He  would  not  mix,  he  said, 
the  consolations  of  earth  with  the  consolations 
of  heaven.  And  then  added  in  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist:  ‘I  shall  he  filled,  when  Thy  glory  shall 
appear.’ 

He  was  no  longer  cut  off  from  his  brethren, 
and  these  were  allowed  to  visit  him  in  his  sickness 
ever  since  the  visit  of  the  provincial.  The  friars 
that  went  to  see  him  were  filled  with  wonder  at 
his  serenity,  for  his  whole  body  was  now  covered 
with  sores,  and  they  would  say  one  to  another 
that  he  was  another  Job  on  a  dunghill,  and  wanted 
nothing  hut  a  shell  to  scrape  the  corruption.  One 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


245 


clay  the  saint,  answering  their  thoughts,  spoke  of 
the  sufferings  of  Job,  who,  4  with  a  shell,  scraped 
the  corruption,  sitting  on  a  dunghill.’  When  he 
had  uttered  these  words,  he  turned  to  the  fathers 
who  were  present  and  said,  ‘Ah,  that  was  suffering 
indeed !  But  I  am  lying  on  a  good  bed,  not  on  a 
dunghill,  and,  instead  of  a  shell,  they  give  me 
clean  linen  to  cleanse  my  sores.  My  sufferings 
are  nothing  ;  our  Lord  has  laid  His  hand  lightly 
upon  me — yea,  rather  one  of  His  fingers,  and  He 
has  but  gently  and  leniently  touched  me.’  To  him 
his  sufferings  were  a  joy,  and  he  not  only  accepted 
them  as  great  graces  from  our  Lord,  hut  had  been 
praying  for  them  nearly  all  his  life. 

The  sores  in  his  body  discharged  matter  con¬ 
tinually,  and  in  most  strange  abundance,  but  there 
was  nothing  offensive  in  it ;  none  were  ever  con¬ 
scious  of  any  unpleasant  odours,  while  many  per¬ 
ceived  the  most  delicious  fragrance  arise  from  the 
vessels  and  the  linen  that,  in  any  other  case,  would 
have  been  loathsome. 

One  of  the  principal  ladies  in  the  place,  Doha 
Clara  do  Benavides,  wife  of  Don  Bartholomew  cle 
Ortega,  heard  of  the  illness  of  the  saint,  and  of 
his  wonderful  patience  in  his  trials.  She  had 
never  seen  him — perhaps  had  not  even  heard  of 
him  before  the  medical  men  told  her  of  his  suffer¬ 
ings.  Doha  Clara,  though  her  own  husband, 
whom  she  loved  exceedingly,  was  ill  at  the  time, 
wished  to  be  of  service  to  the  saint,  and  asked 
her  husband’s  permission  to  send  him  some  pro- 


246 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


visions  out  of  their  house.  Don  Bartholomew, 
who  was  a  good  Christian,  instantly  consented, 
and  Dona  Clara  sent  food  to  the  monastery.  In  a 
day  or  two  the  saint  found  out  that  the  food  could 
not  have  been  dressed  by  the  brothers  in  the 
kitchen  of  the  house ;  so,  when  it  was  brought  to 
him,  he  would  not  take  it.  His  death,  he  said  to 
the  priors,  for  want  of  food  would  be  a  less  evil  to 
the  order  than  the  laxity  that  might  creep  in  if  he 
consented  to  so  great  a  comfort  as  having  his  food 
dressed  outside  the  monastery.  Dona  Clara,  on 
being  told  of  his  resolution,  submitted ;  but  she 
sent  to  the  monastery,  nevertheless,  everything 
that  could  be  wanted,  trusting  in  the  skill  of  the 
cook  to  dress  it  so  that  the  servant  of  God  might 
be  able,  in  his  great  weakness,  to  eat  it.  She 
sent  also  lint  and  cloths  for  the  service  of  the 
dying  saint. 

Dona  Clara  had  troubles  of  her  own  ;  her 
husband,  Don  Bartholomew,  was  ill,  and  his 
illness  at  another  time  would  have  been  a  great 
grief  to  her.  Now,  when  occupied  with  the  care 
of  a  poor  friar  whom  she  had  never  seen,  she 
scarcely  knew  what  that  trouble  was.  The  very 
servants  in  the  house  were  glad  to  do  anything 
for  the  saint,  and  were  sorry  when  their  labours 
were  lessened.  Afterwards,  in  calling  to  mind 
the  events  of  those  weeks,  they  remembered  that 
whenever  anything  was  wanted  for  the  dying 
saint,  they  found  it  at  once ;  hut  when  anything 
was  wanted  for  Don  Bartholomew,  their  master, 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  247 

it  was  found  with  great  difficulty,  in  spite  of  their 
zeal. 

Doha  Clara  was  near  her  confinement ;  and 
on  hearing  that  the  saint  was  so  grateful  for  her 
charitable  services,  of  which  she  herself  made  lit¬ 
tle  account,  sent  to  beg  him  to  pray  for  her  in  her 
coming  illness.  She  dreaded  it  very  much,  and 
her  heart  grew  sad  as  the  time  drew  near.  The 
servant  of  God  went  to  his  prayer,  and  then  sent 
her  word  to  cast  away  all  her  fears,  for  her  pains 
would  be  few,  and  her  child  would  be  admitted  to 
the  vision  of  God.  The  w~ords  of  the  saint  were 
fulfilled  after  his  death.  Doha  Clara’s  illness  was 
light,  and  within  a  year  the  little  girl  whom  she 
had  brought  into  the  world  left  it  for  her  everlast¬ 
ing  home. 

Two  pious  ladies  in  the  neighbourhood,  having 
heard  of  the  saint’s  distressing  illness,  and  know¬ 
ing  that  the  monastery  could  scarcely  provide  for 
him  in  one  way,  offered  to  take  all  the  soiled  linen 
and  cloths  to  their  own  house  and  wash  them. 
Their  offer  was  accepted,  and  accordingly  all  the 
linen  necessary  for  the  service  of  the  saint  was 
taken  from  time  to  time  to  the  house  of  these 
ladies,  Ines  and  Catherine  de  Salazar.  They  were 
delicate  women,  and  not  accustomed  to  what  they 
saw  when  the  linen  was  brought  to  them  from  the 
monastery.  The  clothes  were  saturated  with 
corruption,  and  in  some  of  them  even  pieces  of 
flesh.  The  two  ladies,  instead  of  the  natural 
odours  on  such  occasion,  and  contrary  to  their 


248 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CEOSS. 


expectations,  perceived  a  perfume  of  most  won¬ 
drous  fragrance ;  they  were  filled  themselves  with 
a  strange  joy,  for  which  they  could  not  account, 
and  thus  a  labour  which  they  knew  beforehand 
must  be  at  least  irksome  became  to  them  the 
most  agreeable  occupation  of  their  time. 

One  day  Ines  de  Salazar  not  only  missed  the 
accustomed  fragrance,  but  perceived  a  most  un¬ 
pleasant  and  offensive  smell,  which  made  her  ill 
She  was  unable  to  do  her  work,  and  went  to  her 
mother,  Mary  de  Molina,  and  told  her  that  either 
St.  John  of  the  Cross  must  be  dying  or  the 
friars  had  sent  cloths  used  by  some  other  person. 
Soon  after  a  lay  brother  came  to  the  house,  who, 
on  being  asked  if  the  bandages  used  by  any  other 
father  had  been  sent  with  those  of  the  saint,  con¬ 
fessed  that  the  friars  had  sent  some  which  were 
for  the  service  of  Fra  Matthew  of  the  Blessed  Sa¬ 
crament,  who  had  a  sore  on  one  of  his  shoulders. 
These  the  sisters  separated  without  difficulty  from 
those  of  the  saint,  which  still  sent  forth  the  fra¬ 
grance  of  flowers,  as  before. 

The  two  sisters  nearly  quarrelled  over  their 
work,  each  wished  to  have  it  all  to  herself;  but 
their  mother  interfered,  and  made  them  take  it  in 
turns,  if  they  could  not  help  one  another.  Dona 
Clara,  too,  and  her  servants  wished  to  share  the 
labours  of  the  two  sisters,  if  they  could  not  have  it 
all  to  themselves,  and  made  an  attempt  to  carry 
the  cloths  to  the  house  of  Don  Bartholomew.  The 
two  sisters  would  not  yield,  and  maintained  their 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  249 

right,  pleading  possession.  The  matter  was  laid 
before  the  saint  himself,  and  Dona  Clara  eagerly 
pressed  her  claim.  The  saint  sent  her  word  that 
he  was  pleased  with  the  way  in  which  the  two 
sisters  served  him,  and  he  hoped  that  Dona  Clara 
would  be  content  with  all  the  troubles  she  had  al- 
leady  had,  and  not  add  to  them.  Dona  Clara 
yielded  at  once,  and  the  two  sisters  remained  in 
possession. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

The  approach  of  death — The  saint’s  humility — Fra  Air 
tonio’s  visit — The  last  sacraments — Death. 

The  saint  was  now  nearly  worn  out  and  wasted 
away ;  God  had  heard  his  prayer,  and  had  thrown 
him  into  the  furnace  to  try  him.  There  he  lay 
from  the  end  of  September,  and  it  was  now  the 
7th  day  of  December,  Saturday,  the  eve  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  1591.  The  surgeon  in 
attendance  on  that  day  told  him  that  he  had  hut 
few  days  to  live.  The  saint  answered  with  a  joyful 
face,  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  Lcetatus  sum 
in  his  quce  dicta  sunt  mihi,  in  domum  Domini 
ibimus,—c  I  have  been  made  glad  by  what  they 
have  said  to  me;  we  shall  go  into  the  house  of 
our  Lord.’  He  then,  after  a  momentary  pause, 
added,  ‘  Since  I  have  heard  these  good  tidings,  I 
feel  no  pain  whatever.’  The  surgeon  thought  the 
end  so  near  that  he  advised  the  friars  to  give  him 
the  last  Sacraments  without  delay ;  but  the  saint, 
when  they  repeated  this  to  him,  asked  them  to 
wait  a  few  days;  he  would  warn  them  in  time.  A 
messenger  w*as  sent  at  once  for  the  provincial,  Fra 
Antonio,  who,  with  the  saint,  had  begun  the  reform 


\ 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  251 

in  Duruelo ;  and  the  old  man  came,  in  obedience 
to  the  summons,  hut  he  did  not  reach  Ubeda  be¬ 
fore  the  afternoon  of  Friday. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  following  week  he 
asked  the  friars  what  day  it  was;  and  a  little  later, 
how  long  it  was  to  Saturday.  He  then  saw  that 
they  had  guessed  his  meaning ;  and  do  turn  their 
attention  away,  he  added,  that  he  was  thinking 
how,  on  that  day,  our  Lady  helped  her  religious  in 
a  special  way.  But  his  explanation  had  no  effect 
on  the  minds  of  his  brethren,  for  they  believed 
then,  and  their  belief  was  afterwards  strengthened, 
that  our  Blessed  Lady,  whom  he  had  so  constantly 
served,  had  made  known  to  him  that  he  would  die 
on  Saturday  within  the  octave  of  her  great  feast. 

On  the  Thursday  morning  he  asked  Fra  Bar¬ 
tholomew  of  St.  Basil,  who  was  continually  with 
him  during  the  latter  part  of  his  illness,  to  take  a 
small  bag  that  was  under  his  pillow,  and  burn  the 
papers  that  were  in  it.  These  wrere  letters  he  had 
received  from  his  friends ;  and  he  would  not  leave 
them  behind,  lest  they  should  be  troubled  on  his 
account.  The  saint  was  dying  under  a  cloud  in. 
the  Older  he  had  almost  founded,  the  first  novices 
of  which  he  had  trained;  for  the  inquisition  made 
by  Fra  Diego  of  the  Evangelist,  without  authority, 
into  his  life  and  conduct  was  still  fresh  in  the 
mmds  of  his  brethren,  and  none  of  them  knew 

liowr  much  or  how  little  the  vicar  was  concerned 
in  it. 

W  hen  the  papers  had  been  all  destroyed,  he 


252 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


asked  for  tlie  viaticum;  and  in  the  evening,  at  the 
hour  in  which  our  Lord  instituted  the  Holy  Mass, 
the  friars  brought  Him  to  His  servant,  wdio,  be¬ 
fore  he  received  Him,  begged  his  brethren  to  for¬ 
give  the  bad  example  he  had  given;  and  then,  not 
seeing  the  prior  among  them,  sent  him  a  message, 
begging  him,  for  the  love  of  God,  to  come  to 
him.  The  prior  came,  and  the  saint  whom  he  had 
wronged  asked  his  forgiveness,  and  begged  him  to 
overlook  all  his  faults.  He  was  sorry,  he  said,  for 
the  trouble  he  had  given,  and  for  the  expense  to 
which  he  had  put  the  house ;  but  he  would  do  all 
he  could  to  make  compensation,  and  prayed  our 
Lord  to  repay  them  after  his  death.  His  prayer 
was  the  prayer  of  the  just,  for  the  house  prospered, 
and  soon  became  one  of  the  best  in  the  province. 
Indeed,  the  saint  had  before  this  told  the  sub¬ 
prior  that  the  house  would  prosper,  and  it  was 
then  believed  in  the  monastery  that  the  servant  of 
God  had  received  from  our  Lord  an  assurance  that 
his  prayer  would  be  heard. 

The  prior’s  heart  now  melted  within  him,  and 
his  tears  flowed,  at  the  remembrance  of  his  harsh 
-  treatment  of  the  servant  of  God,  and  of  the  patient 
endurance  with  which  that  treatment  was  borne. 
The  saint  begged  one  further  grace  of  him,  namely, 
a  habit  to  be  buried  in — that  was  all  he  asked :  he 
possessed  nothing  himself.  So  when  the  friars 
asked  him  to  distribute  among  them  those  things 
which  might  be  said  to  belong  to  him,  such  as  his 
Breviary,  his  rosary,  and  his  habit — they  wished  to 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  253 

have  something  of  his  in  their  possession  as  relics 
— he  answered  them  simply,  ‘  I  am  poor,  and  have 
nothing  of  my  own  ;  everything  about  me  belongs 
to  the  superior;  ask  him.’  He  remembered  his 
vow  even  when  dying,  for  he  had  faithfully  kept 
it  all  his  life. 

On  Friday,  Dec.  13,  the  Feast  of  St.  Lucy,  he 
asked  them  who  wTere  with  him  what  day  of  the 
week  it  was.  They  told  him  Friday;  he  never 
asked  again  the  name  of  the  day,  but  only  from 
time  to  time  w7hat  hour  it  was.  At  one  in  the 
afternoon,  when  they  told  him  in  answer  to  his 
question  what  hour  it  was,  he  said,  ‘I  asked  be¬ 
cause,  glory  be  to  God,  I  have  to  chant  Matins  in 
heaven  to-night.’  He  now  became  more  deeply 
recollected,  and  was  from  time  to  time  in  a  trance  ; 
his  eyes  were  generally  closed,  that  he  might  be 
the  more  intent  upon  heavenly  things.  Now  and 
then,  however,  he  opened  them,  only  to  look  most 
lovingly  on  the  crucifix  before  him. 

That  Friday  was  spent  on  the  cross  with  our 
Lord,  for  the  servant  of  God  entered  into  the  night 
of  spiritual  desolation ;  in  addition  to  his  great 
bodily  pain  his  soul  w7as  filled  with  darkness.  He 
lay  on  his  poor  bed,  the  very  poorest  of  men,  ut¬ 
terly  detached  from  all  things,  and  cleaving  only 
to  God,  who  visited  him  in  His  love,  and  wound¬ 
ing  him  anew,  left  him  alone  in  the  most  terrible 
abandonment,  beyond  the  reach  of  all  possible  con¬ 
solation.  On  that  day  the  provincial,  Father  An¬ 
tonio  of  Jesus,  arrived,  and  went  at  once  to  see 


254 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


him.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  was  very  glad  to  see 
him,  but  he  could  not  speak,  because  of  the  pain 
he  was  in  both  in  soul  and  body.  At  last,  lest  the 
provincial  should  be  distressed,  he  turned  to  him 
and  begged  him  to  forgive  his  silence,  which  was 
caused  by  the  great  severity  of  his  sufferings.  Fra 
Antonio  then  tried  to  console  him,  and  spoke  of 
his  labours  in  the  order,  and  of  the  great  reward 
he  was  about  to  receive.  Thereupon  the  saint 
stopped  his  ears  with  his  feeble  hands,  and  cried, 

‘  0,  my  father,  do  not  speak  of  that ;  speak  rather 
of  my  many  and  grievous  sins ;  I  think  only  of  them 
and  of  the  merits  of  my  Redeemer.’  A  little  later 
Fra  Augustin  of  St.  Joseph  came  in  to  console 
him,  and  when  he  had  said  that  he  would  soon  be 
rewarded  for  what  he  had  done,  the  saint  cried  out 
as  before  in  great  distress,  ‘  0,  my  father,  do  not 
speak  of  that ;  for  there  is  nothing  that  I  ever  did 
that  is  not  a  source  of  shame  to  me  at  this  mo¬ 
ment.’ 

About  five  o’clock  in  the  evening  he  asked  for 
the  last  anointing,  during  the  ministration  of 
which  he  made  all  the  responses  himself.  Some 
time  afterwards  he  asked  them  what  hour  it  was, 
and  on  being  told  it  was  nine  o’clock,  he  said,  ‘  Ah, 
I  have  three  hours  to  wait;’  and  then,  in  a  voice  of 
most  touching  humility,  he  repeated  the  words  of 
the  Psalmist,  Incolatus  mens  prolongatus  est.  He 
remained  silent  now,  but  hearing  a  bell  ringing  at 
ten  o’clock,  he  asked  what  it  was ;  they  told  him 
that  it  was  the  bell  of  a  neighbouring  monastery  of 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  255 

nuns  ringing  for  Matins ;  lie  answered,  ‘  I  too,  by 
the  goodness  of  God,  shall  sing  them  with  our 
Lady  in  heaven.’  And  then  addressing  himself  to 
her,  said :  ( I  thank  thee,  0  my  Lady  and  my  Queen, 
because  it  pleases  thee  to  let  me  quit  this  world 
on  Saturday,  thine  own  day.’ 

Soon  after  this  he  seemed  so  weak  and  faint 
that  the  friar  who  was  with  him,  thinking  the  last 
moments  had  been  reached,  was  about  to  ring  the 
bell  to  summon  the  community.  The  saint,  know¬ 
ing  his  purpose,  called  him  back,  and  said  there 
was  no  reason  for  disturbing  the  house  at  that 
time ;  he  would  give  him  due  warning.  Then  at 
eleven  o’clock  he  sat  up  in  his  bed,  and  said,  4  ITow 
ivell  I  am !’  He  seemed  to  be  in  perfect  health 
of  body,  and  asked  them  to  sing  the  praises  of  God 
with  him.  He  was  exultingly  joyous,  and  those 
who  were  present — there  were  even  seculars  watch¬ 
ing  with  the  religious — formed  themselves  into  a 
choir.  The  saint  began  the  Miserere ,  and  they 
answered ;  this  done,  they  recited  other  psalms  in 
the  same  way;  the  saint  from  time  to  time  kissing 
the  crucifix  which  he  held  in  his  hands. 

At  half-past  eleven  he  said  it  was  time  to  call 
the  community;  the  bell  was  rung,  and  the  friars 
came  in  with  the  provincial,  his  old  friend  and 
companion,  Father  Antonio  of  Jesus.  The  old 
man  of  fourscore  years  and  more  fell  on  his  knees, 

•  and  for  himself  and  the  whole  community,  also  on 
its  knees,  begged  him,  their  father,  to  bless  them 
before  he  went,  and  to  remember  them  when  he 


250 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


should  see  the  face  of  God.  The  saint  said  he 
should  never  forget  them,  hut  as  for  blessing  them 
he  could  not  do  it — that  belonged  to  the  father  of 
them  all,  the  provincial  there  present.  But  the 
friars  asked  him  again,  and  then  the  provincial 
commanded  the  dying  saint,  as  his  subject,  to  satisfy 
his  and  their  desires.  He  then,  obedient  to  the 
end,  lifted  up  his  hand  and  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  the  whole  assembly  weeping  tears  at  once  of 
sorrow  and  of  joy. 

Fra  Alonso  of  the  Mother  of  God  began  now  to 
make  the  recommendation  of  his  soul,  and  when 
he  had  gone  on  for  a  little  while,  the  saint  turned 
towards  him  and  said,  ‘  Go  on,  pray  for  me  to  God, 
for  I  must  needs  rest  awhile.’  He  then  pressed 
the  crucifix  with  his  hands,  and  closed  his  eyes  in 
prayer.  In  a  few  minutes  he  asked  them  to  read 
the  Canticle  for  him ;  the  prior  took  the  book,  and 
as  he  read,  the  dying  saint  would  murmur  from 
time  to  time,  ‘  0  what  pearls !’  A  little  before 
twelve  o’clock  he  gave  the  crucifix  to  a  secular 
much  attached  to  him  to  hold  for  a  moment.  He 
then  put  both  his  hands  underneath  the  bedclothes, 
and  arranged  his  habit,  and  having  put  all  in  order, 
held  out  his  hand  for  the  crucifix.  He  who  held 
'  it  gave  it,  and  in  doing  so  kissed  the  hand  of  the 
saint.  The  servant  of  God  looked  at  him  and  said, 

‘  Ah,  you  should  not  have  had  it  if  I  had  known 
it  would  cost  me  so  much.’ 

It  was  now  close  upon  midnight,  and  among 
the  friars  around  him  he  saw  Fra  Francis,  whose 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


257 


duty  it  was  to  ring  the  bell  for  Matins.  Mindful 
of  regular  observance  to  the  last,  be  said  to  him, 
‘  Go,  and  ring  the  bell  for  Matins.’  In  a  minute 
or  two  afterwards,  waking  up  from  a  deep  sleep,  he 
asked  what  the  bell  was  ringing  for ;  they  answered, 
‘For  Matins;’  be  looked  at  them  and  smiled,  as  if 
taking  leave  of  them,  and  said,  ‘  I  am  going  to  sing 
them  in  Paradise.’ 

He  then  kissed  the  crucifix,  and  with  closed 
eyes,  saying,  ‘In  manus  Tuas,  Domine,  commendo 
spiritum  meum ,’  passed  away  as  a  child  falling 
asleep  in  its  mother’s  arms.  There  was  no  agony 
nor  struggle,  nor  the  semblance  of  pain.  God  took 
him  gently  to  Himself,  on  Saturday  morning,  Dec. 
14,  1591,  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  age.  He  had 
been  twenty-eight  years  in  religion,  five  of  which 
he  spent  in  the  old  observance,  and  twenty-three 
in  the  reform  of  St.  Teresa. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


Tlie  funeral — Sermon — Incorruption  of  the  body  —  re¬ 
moval  of  it  to  Madrid  and  Segovia  —  contest  for  the 
possession  of  it — Canonisation. 

The  religious  and  the  seculars  present  in  the  in¬ 
firmary,  when  they  saw  that  the  saint  was  dead, 
fell  upon  him  with  one  consent,  and  having  kissed 
his  hands  and  feet,  began  to  rob  him  of  the  habit 
he  wore  and  of  the  linen  rags  that  served  t©  cover 
his  sores.  They  took  away  from  his  head,  which 
'  was  almost  bald,  the  little  hair  spared  by  the  ton- 
sure.  Even  the  rope  that  hung  from  the  ceiling, 
by  which  he  used  to  move  himself  in  his  bed,  was 
taken  down,  and  seized  upon  with  eagerness  as  relics 
and  memorials  of  a  saint.  The  prior  saved  the 
leathern  girdle  from  the  common  destruction,  and 
afterwards  gave  it  Dona  Clara.  To  her  husband, 
Don  Bartholomew  de  Ortega,  he  gave  the  Breviary 
which  the  saint  had  used  in  his  lifetime. 

While  the  friars  were  thus  occupied,  the  death 
of  the  saint  became  known  in  divers  places.  Doiia 
Clara,  asleep  in  her  bed,  awoke  suddenly,  and 
rousing  her  husband,  told  him  that  St.  John 
of  the  Cross  was  dead.  She  did  not  see  him,  she 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CBOSS.  259 

said,  but  she  was  sure  that  he  had  been  in  the 
room.  Don  Bartholomew  made  light  of  it,  and 
attributed  it  all  to  her  imagination ;  but  at  that 
moment  the  bell  of  the  monastery  broke  the  si¬ 
lence  of  the  night,  and  Don  Bartholomew  believed 
what  his  wife  had  said.  The  tolling  of  the  bell 
disturbed  the  whole  town ;  the  instant  the  people 
heard  it,  they  knew  that  it  announced  to  them  the 
departure  of  the  saint.  They  hurried  to  the  mon¬ 
astery,  and  clamoured  to  be  let  in.  As  the  night 
was  cold  and  the  rain  was  falling,  the  friars  had 
pity  on  the  men,  and  had  great  difficulty  in  hinder¬ 
ing  the  women  also  from  entering  within  the  en¬ 
closure.  Those  who  went  in  begged  to  be  allowed 
to  see  the  body  ox  the  saint,  and  on  being  allowed 
to  do  so,  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  the  friars, 
and  began  to  rob  him  of  the  little  which  the  friars 
had  left  him,  that  they  might  possess  something 
that  had  once  touched  that  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  monastery  was  filled 
again,  and  the  body  of  the  saint  was  brought  down 
into  the  church  for  burial.  The  people  fell  on  their 
knees,  kissed  the  feet,  and  then  touched  the  body 
with  their  rosaries.  Some  cried  out  that  they  had 
had  a  great  saint  among  them  and  that  they  knew 
him  not,  and  then  bewailing  their  loss,  for  he  was 
gone  before  they  knew  him.  Father  Sotomayor, 
the  Dominican,  came  in,  and  fell  on  his  knees  be¬ 
fore  the  saint.  He  was  one  of  those  who  had  seen 
his  face  shining  in  Baeza,  and  the  vision  was  the 


260 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CKOSS. 


beginning  of  bis  conversion.  When  he  had  knelt 
down  he  fell  as  one  dead  over  the  body ;  the  friars 
removed  him  as  quickly  as  they  could,  and  vrhen 
they  saw  he  had  recovered  himself,  asked  him  wdiy 
he  had  fainted  away.  He  told  them  that  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  cut  off  one  of  the  fingers, 
and  that,  on  his  laying  hold  of  it,  the  saint  had 
drawn  it  back  out  of  his  hand,  as  if  he  had  been 
still  living. 

The  whole  neighbourhood  wras  stirred,  and  the 
church  filled  from  end  to  end.  Clergy,  secular 
and  regular,  noblemen,  and  persons  of  less  honour 
in  the  wrorld,  came  together  uninvited  to  see  and 
venerate  the  body  of  the  poorest  man  in  all  Spain. 
Mass  was  sung,  and  a  grave  and  learned  priest, 
the  Hr.  Bezerra,  preached  a  sermon  ;  at  the  close 
of  which  he  said  :  4 1  do  not  ask  you,  as  the  cus¬ 
tom  is,  to  pray  to  God  for  the  soul  of  the  departed, 
for  he  who  is  gone  from  us  is  a  saint,  and  his  soul 
is  in  Paradise ;  but  what  I  ask  is  this  :  I  ask  you 
to  follow  in  his  footsteps,  and  I  ask  him  to  obtain 
for  us  from  God  the  grace  to  do  so.’  Then,  when 
the  body  had  to  be  borne  to  the  grave,  there  arose 
an  eager  contest  among  the  religious  present  for 
the  honour  of  carrying  it  to  its  place  of  rest  within 
the  church. 

The  people  crowded  daily  into  the  church  to 
pray  to  the  saint,  for  they  had  no  doubts  about 
him ;  but  they  wTould  not  tread  on  that  part  of 
the  pavement  underneath  which  the  body  of  the 
saint  was  lying.  The  friars,  his  brethren,  wrere 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  261 

less  reverent,  and  on  the  Monday  night  following 
the  funeral,  when  about  to  take  the  discipline  as 
usual,  and  when  the  lights  had  been  either  put  out 
or  made  dim,  they  were  suddenly  surprised  by  a 
great  light  which  filled  the  whole  church.  Some 
thought  that  all  the  lights  had  not  been  put  out, 
and  the.  prior  gave  orders  in  that  sense  ;  hut  those 
who  were  near  the  grave  were  seized  with  a  holy 
fear,  for  they  saw  that  it  had  come  from  the  tomb 
of  the  saint,  whose  sepulchre  it  pleased  our  Lord 
to  make  thus  glorious  before  their  eyes.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  light  disappeared,  and  the  friars  un¬ 
derwent  the  discipline  as  usual  in  the  dark. 

At  the  end  of  nine  months  the  grave  was 
opened,  and  the  body  of  the  saint  was  found  incor¬ 
rupt.  Dona  Ana  de  Penalosa  and  her  brother, 
Don  Luis  de  Mercado,  auditor  of  the  royal  coun¬ 
cil,  and  now  a  priest,  both  then  living  in  Madrid, 
obtained  an  order  from  the  vicar,  Fra  Nicolas  of 
Jesus  Maria,  for  its  removal  from  Ubeda  to  Segovia. 
Dona  Ana  had  a  great  devotion  to  the  servant  of 
God,  and,  as  the  foundress  oi  the  monastery  in 
Segovia,  wished  to  have  the  body  of  the  saint  placed 
there,  in  the  house  she  had  founded  under  his 
direction.  Dona  Ana  and  her  brother  waited,  how¬ 
ever,  for  nine  months  before  they  attempted  to  re¬ 
move  it,  and  then  sent  to  Ubeda  an  officer  of  the 
court,  with  orders  to  bring  away  the  remains,  for 
by  that  time  they  thought  that  the  flesh  had  wasted 
away. 

Francis  de  Medina  Zavallos  went  to  Ubeda, 


262 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


and  haying  seen  the  prior,  Fra  Francis  of  St. 
Chrysostom,  told  him  the  reason  of  his  coming, 
and  produced  the  order  of  the  vicar,  who  on  his 
part  enjoined  obedience  and  absolute  silence  on 
the  prior.  It  was  then  settled  that  the  latter 
should  admit  Zavallos  into  the  church  at  eleven 
o’clock  at  night,  unknown  to  the  community ; 
and  that  two  lay  brothers  should  open  the  grave 
and  raise  the  body.  So  it  was  done.  When 
they  had  removed  the  stone  they  perceived  a  most 
fragrant  perfume,  and  when  they  reached  the  body, 
they  found  it  to  their  surprise,  and_  to  the  dis¬ 
appointment  of  Zavallos,  perfectly  fresh  and  sup¬ 
ple  ;  there  wras  no  trace  of  corruption  in  it.  It 
was  impossible  to  take  it  away;  and,  indeed,  the 
order  was  for  the  removal  of  the  bones.  The 
prior  and  Zavallos,  in  their  difficulty,  forgot  them¬ 
selves  and  opened  the  body,  took  out  the  entrails, 
and  then  putting  quicklime — which  they  found 
within  the  monastery,  for  there  were  workmen 
daily  there  employed  in  building  the  church — 
both  within  the  body  and  around  it,  replaced  the 
sacred  relics  in  the  grave  they  had  so  uselessly  dis¬ 
turbed.  But  before  it  was  put  back,  the  prior,  at 
the  request  of  Zavallos,  cut  off  one  of  the  fingers  of 
the  right  hand,  that  he  might  give  it  to  Bona 
Ana  as  a  proof  of  the  story  he  had  to  tell.  The 
hand  wras  full  of  blood,  and  the  blood  flowed  as 
freely  as  from  the  hand  of  a  living  man. 

Bona  Ana  and  her  brother  waited  nine  months 
more,  and  Zavallos  was  sent  again  to  Ubeda.  The 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


2  63 


grave  was  opened,  and  the  body  was  found  nearly 
as  they  left  it ;  the  lime  had  indeed  dried  it,  but 
had  not  consumed  the  flesh.  While  they  were 
opening  the  grave,  Fra  Bartholomew  of  St.  Basil 
was  roused  from  his  sleep,  and  heard  distinctly 
the  words,  ‘  If  thou  hast  a  mind  to  see  the  holy 
body  of  John  of  the  Cross,  arise,  for  they  are 
about  to  take  it  away.’  Fra  Bartholomew  hurried 
down  to  the  church,  but  the  prior  met  him  at  the 
door  and  ordered  him  not  only  to  return  to  his  cell, 
hut  to  say  nothing  of  what  he  might  have  heard 
or  seen.  Zavallos  took  the  body  away  in  a  cloak- 
bag,  and  the  better  to  escape  pursuit,  should  the 
people  of  Ubeda  discover  the  theft,  went  out  of 
his  road;  near  Martos  he  and  his  fellows  were 
suddenly  confronted  by  a  man,  who  cried  out, 

‘  Whither  are  you  going  with  the  body  of  the 
saint  ?  Let  it  remain  where  it  was.’  Zavallos  and 
his  companions  nevertheless  passed  on  —  not 
however  without  anxiety,  for  people  asked  them 
wherever  they  halted  what  it  was  they  had  with 
them,  the  perfume  of  the  body  was  so  wonderful 
and  agreeable — and  having  reached  Madrid  with 
their  precious  burden,  gave  it  to  the  safe  keeping 
of  the  Carmelite  nuns.  There  Bona  Ana  had  one 
of  the  arms  cut  off  for  a  relic,  but  afterwards  sent 
it,  as  she  thought  at  the  time,  to  Segovia,  but  in 
reality  to  the  monastery  of  the  nuns  in  Medina 
del  Campo,  for  she  had  scruples  about  keeping  it. 

In  the  monastery  of  the  nuns  the  body  was 
treated  with  more  reverence ;  it  was  put  in  a 


264  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

coffin ,  covered  with  flowers  and  branches  of  laurel, 
that  it  might  be  sent  the  more  reverently  to  Segovia. 
Those  who  were  charged  with  the  duty  of  carrying 
it  from  Madrid  had  been  ordered  by  the  superiors 
of  the  order  to  keep  the  secret  and  avoid  all  pub¬ 
licity,  in  order  that  there  should  be  no  gathering 
of  people  when  the  sacred  relics  should  reach 
Segovia.  This  became  impossible,  for  before  they 
arrived  near  the  city  the  secret  was  revealed ;  people 
were  attracted  by  the  wondrous  fragrance ;  and 
though  the  persons  in  charge  of  the  body  -went  to 
the  monastery  without  going  through  the  city, 
they  were  followed  by  a  great  multitude  of  men 
and  women. 

The  friars  of  Segovia  received  the  body  wdth 
all  honour  and  respect,  removed  the  lime  which 
the  prior  of  Ubeda  had  applied  to  it,  and  much  of 
which  still  cleaved  to  it.  When  they  had  cleansed 
the  holy  body,  they  vested  it  in  the  habit  of  the 
order  and  placed  it  in  a  fitting  coffin.  The  prior 
had  it  then  laid  up  reverently  in  the  sacristy,  and 
to  avoid  all  confusion  and  indiscreet  worship  of  a 
saint  not  yet  canonised,  ordered  the  doors  of  the 
church  to  be  closed. 

But  the  moment  it  became  known  that  the 
church  was  to  be  shut,  the  whole  city  flocked 
tumultuously  to  the  doors  of  the  monastery,  knock¬ 
ing  thereat  and  shouting  ;  the  crowd  insisted  on 
being  admitted  into  the  church  and  on  being 
allowed  to  see  the  body  of  the  saint  whom  they 
had  known  in  the  flesh. 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


265 


Then  the  bishop,  with  many  of  the  dignitaries 
and  canons  of  the  cathedral  church,  the  chief 
magistrates  of  the  city,  and  many  noblemen,  came 
to  the  monastery  and  demanded  admission.  The 
prior,  who  had  resisted  thepnultitude,  was  forced 
to  yield  now,  and  the  body  was  brought  from  the 
sacristy  into  the  church.  Some  of  the  friars  had 
to  stand  continually  near  it,  and  others  near  the 
rails,  to  keep  back  the  crowd.  Rosaries  and  hand¬ 
kerchiefs  were  given  to  the  friars  that  they  might 
touch  the  body  with  them,  and  these  the  people 
treasured  as  precious  things.  The  throng  that 
gathered  before  the  church  was  so  great  as  to 
make  the  street  impassable.  This  continued  for 
eight  days,  when  at  last  the  council  of  the  order 
and  the  vicar  commanded  the  prior  to  restrain  the 
zeal  of  the  people,  and  to  refuse  them  the  sight  of 
the  body ;  it  being  unlawful  to  venerate  as  a  saint 
whom  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  had  not  canonised. 

The  prior  obeyed,  but  the  people  flocked  into 
the  church,  and  in  spite  of  the  resistance  of  the 
friars,  broke  into- the  chancel  and  demanded  the 
body  of  the  saint.  The  prior  could  not  grant 
them  their  demands,  hut  he  took  an  old  habit 
left  behind  in  the  monastery,  once  worn  by  the 
servant  of  God,  and  having  torn  it  into  shreds, 
divided  it  among  them  to  keep  them  quiet. 

When  Francis  de  Ycpes  heard  that  the  body 
of  his  brother  had  been  brought  to  Segovia,  he 
went  thither  in  the  hope  of  seeing  it;  but  the 
friars  would  not  satisfy  his  desires  because  of  the 


266  LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CKOSS. 

orders  of  the  vicar  and  his  council.  He  then 
went  to  Madrid  and  saw  Dona  Ana.  She  had  now 
conceived  some  scruples  about  retaining  the  arm 
in  her  possession ;  so  she  gave  a  piece  of  the  flesh 
to  Francis,  and  asked  him  to  carry  the  arm  to 
Segovia,  that  it  might  be  laid  up  in  the  same  place 
with  the  body  from  which  it  had  been  taken. 
Francis,  having  placed  the  flesh  in- a  glass,  took  the 
arm  to  Segovia,  and  his  journey  was  one  of  won¬ 
ders.  The  prior  of  Segovia  did  not  receive  him 
very  kindly  ;  so  Francis  took  the  arm  to  Medina 
and  gave  it  to  the  Carmelite  nuns  who  had  been 
so  generous  to  his  and  the  saint’s  mother.  Fran¬ 
cis  carried  about  his  person  the  glass  in  which  he 
had  placed  the  flesh,  and  soon  afterwards,  when  in 

m  ' 

great  distress  of  mind,  longing  to  see  his  brother, 
he  gazed  at  the  flesh,  and  to  his  amazement  saw, 
as  if  painted  on  it,  the  very  likeness  of  the  saint, 
not  once  but  ever  afterwards.  Our  Lady  also  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  same  way,  with  the  Infant  in  her 
arms ;  and  this  was  seen  not  only  by  Francis  de 
Yepes,  but  by  many  others.  Some,  however,  who 
gazed  at  the  relic  saw  nothing ;  for  the  vision  was 
not  granted  to  all.  Some  saw  our  Lord  on  the 
cross,  others  a  dove ;  some  saw  the  saint  himselr 
on  his  knees  before  the  crucifix.  •  There  were 
others  who  saw  angels ;  some  saw  St.  Peter,  others 
Elias  the  prophet;  some  saw  St.  Teresa,  others 
St.  Francis;  and  others  again  saw  St.  Francis 
Xavier ;  but  amid  these  great  diversities  no  one 
saw  anything  that  was  not  holy  or  divine.  Some 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CHOSS.  2G7 

again  saw  at  one  hour  and  not  at  another ;  some 
saw  always  the  same  vision,  and  to  others  the  vision 
was  changed.  All  were  always  impressed,  and 
numerous  miracles  were  wrought.  Gnce  a  Ma¬ 
hometan  woman,  then  a  slave  in  Spain,  who  had 
obstinately  refused  to  become  a  Christian,  was 
shown  the  relic.  She  looked  at  it  out  of  pure 
curiosity,  and  then  cried  out,  ‘  0,  beautiful  Lady, 
beautiful  Boy.’  She  was  touched  by  divine  grace, 
was  converted  and  baptised. 

The  people  of  Ubeda,  when  they  discovered 
that  the  body  of  the  saint  had  been  taken  away, 
were  moved  to  great  indignation,  for  they  felt  that 
a  great  wrong  had  been  done  to  them.  The  coun¬ 
cil  of  the  city  resolved  to  apply  to  the  Pope  for 
redress,  and  immediately  deputies  were  sent  to 
Piome  to  ask  his  Holiness  to  order  the  restitution 
of  the  body.  The  people  of  Segovia  also  sent 
deputies  when  they  heard  what  the  city  of  Ubeda 
had  done ;  and  Doha  Ana  de  Penalosa  and  her 
brother  Don  Luis  exerted  themselves  to  the  ut¬ 
most  to  show  that  Segovia  had  better  claims  than 
Ubeda.  The  dispute  was  carried  before  his  Holi¬ 
ness  Clement  VIII.,  for  it  was  now  a  suit  at  law ; 
and  the  Pontiff,  after  the  case  had  been  pleaded, 
decided  that  the  body  should  be  restored  to  Ubeda! 
The  decision  was  recorded  in  a  brief  dated  Sep¬ 
tember  15,  1596. 

lhe  heads  of  the  order,  lamenting  the  dispute 
between  the  people  of  Ubeda  and  Segovia,  laboured 
to  effect  a  settlement  which  should  not  eave  any 


268 


LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


heartburnings  behind.  The  executors  of  the  Pa¬ 
pal  Brief  were  also  willing  to  see  an  arrangement 
made.  At  last  Ubeda,  though  victorious  in  the 
lawsuit  in  Borne,  consented  to  accept  a  part  of 
the  whole.  One  foot  had  been  left  there,  for  the 
prior  had  retained  it ;  and  now  the  other  and  one 
arm  were  to  be  given  also.  The  other  arm  Bona 
Ana  had  taken.  There  remained  therefore  in 
Segovia  the  head*  with  the  trunk.  Thus  the  body 
was  divided  ;  and  in  both  places  chapels  were 
built  for  the  preservation  of- the  sacred  remains. 

He  was  beatified  in  1674,  by  Clement  X.,  and 
canonised  by  Benedict  XIII.,  December  27,  1726, 


THE  END. 


INDEX. 


Abiuuam,  34. 

Accusations,  false,  brought 
against  St.  Teresa,  87,  97; 
against  St.  John  of  the  Cross! 
232. 

Adonde  Te  escondiste,  98,  168. 
Aimeii,  Patriarch  of  Antioch 
3. 

Albert  of  Parma,  Patriarch  of 
Jerusalem,  3,  28. 

Alcala  de  Henares,  college 
founded  in,  57;  the  saint 
made  rector  of,  57 ;  observ¬ 
ance,  59. 

Almodovar  del  Campo,  chapter 
of,  84,  162, 164 ;  arrival  of  the 
saint  in,  112. 

Alonso,  Fra,  of  the  Mother  of 
Cod,  1/9  ;  at  the  deathbed  of 
the  saint,  256. 

Alvarez,  Catherine,  mother  of 
the  saint,  13  ;  marriage  of, 
14  ;  poverty  of,  14  ;  distress 
of,  15 ;  works  for  her  bread, 
17 ;  comes  to  Medina  del 
Campo,  17 ;  holy  death  of, 
211. 

Al/arez,  Don  Alonso,  takes 
Juan  de  Yepes  into  his  ser¬ 
vice,  21 ;  offers  to  give  him  a 
benefice,  24 ;  present  at  the 
profession  of  the  saint,  27. 


Andalucians,  the,  not  liked  by 
St.  Teresa  and  St.  John  of 
the  Cross,  145. 

Andrew,  St.,  college  of,  in  Sala¬ 
manca,  30. 

Angel,  Fra,  of  St.  Gabriel,  57; 
indiscretions  of,  59;  com¬ 
plains  to  St.  Teresa,  61. 
Angel,  Fra,  of  the  Presentation, 
Prior  of  Baeza,  229. 

Ana  Maria,  Dona,  a  nun  of  the 
Incarnation,  88. 

Anna,  mother  of  Tobias,  17. 
Anne  of  Jesus,  25 ;  prioress  of 
Veas,  119  ;  goes  to  Granada, 
155  ;  persuades  the  saint  to 
write,  168;  discontented,  216; 
disliked  by  some  of  the  friars’ 
222. 

Anne  of  St.  Albert,  mother, 
182.  ’ 

Anne  of  the  Mother  of  God 
108. 

Antonia  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  39 
170. 

Antonio  of  Jesus,  Fra  — see  He¬ 
redia. 

Apostate,  an,  converted  by  the 
saint,  194. 

Arevalo,  17,  18. 

Ascent,  the,  of  Mount  Carmel, 


‘270 


INDEX. 


Asparagus,  miraculous,  236. 

Augustin,  Fra,  of  St.  Joseph,  254. 

Augustin,  Fra,  of  St.  Joseph, 
procurator  of  the  house  in 
Granada,  150. 

Augustin,  Fra,  of  the  Kings, 
147  ;  prior  of  Cordova,  185  ; 
wished  to  punish  Anne  of 
Jesus,  222. 

Avila,  4 ;  monastery  of  St. 
Joseph,  founded  in,  6;  birth¬ 
place  of  St.  Teresa,  13. 

Aylesford,  priory  of,  2. 

Baeza,  130  ;  university  of,  131 ; 
college  founded  in,  133. 

Baltasar,  Fra,  of  Jesus,  51; 
founds  a  college  of  the  order 
in  Alcala,  57  ;  fall  and  re¬ 
pentance  of,  87. 

Banes,  Fra  Dominic,  letter  of, 
C2 ;  consulted  by  Anne  of 
Jesus,  217  ;  defends  the  Car¬ 
melite  nuns,  220. 

Barbara  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  197. 

Barnabas,  Fra,  of  Jesus,  206. 

Bartholomew,  Fra,  of  Jesus, 
144. 

Baithclomew,  Fra,  of  St.  Basil, 
173  ;  attends  the  saint  in  his 
last  illness,  238,  251 ;  warned 
in  his  sleep  of  the  removal  of 
the  faint’s  body,  263. 

Bautista,  Fra  Juan,  a  novice  in 
Duruelo,  53. 

Beatriz  of  Jesus  sees  St.  Teresa 
and  the  saint  in  a  trance,  68. 

Begging  disapproved  of  by  the 
saint,  126,  135,  150,  151 ;  al¬ 
lowed  by  the  saint  in  wealthy 
places,  153. 

Benavides,  de,  Doha  Clara, 
245  ;  sends  food  for  the  saint, 


296  ;  miraculously  warned  of 
the  saint’s  death,  258. 

Bernardo,  Fra,  infirmarian  of 
Ubeda,  241. 

Bezerra,  Dr.,  preache3  at  the 
saint’s  burial,  260. 

Brocardo,  second  prior  of  the 
Carmelites,  3. 

Bujalance,  the  saint  in,  194. 

Calvary,  Mount — see  Coren^u- 
ela. 

Cano,  Melchior,  30. 

Caravaca,  the  saint  visits  the 
nuns  of,  139 ;  presides  at  an 
election  in,  197. 

Caravajal,  da,  Doha  Philippa, 
supplies  the  friars  of  Coren- 
<?uela  with  food,  127. 

Carleval,  de,  Bernardin,  133. 

Carmel,  1 ;  friars  of,  2  ;  reform 
of,  5 ;  contemplatives  of,  9, 
85  ;  the  saint  enters  the  order 
of,  26. 

Carthusians,  the,  Fra  Antonio 
wished  to  join,  10  ;  the  saint 
wished  to  join,  34,  36;  two 
friars  in  Segovia  tempted  to 
enter  among,  206. 

Catherine  of  Jesus,  the  saint 
writes  to,  145. 

Cells  of  the  saint  made  into 
chapels,  31. 

Cerda,  de  la,  Doha  Luisa,  157. 

Chapter,  of  Piacenza,  81, 82  ;  of 
Moraleja,  82  ;  of  Almodovar 
del  Campo,  84 ;  of  Lisbon, 
171 ;  of  Valladolid,  197  ;  of 
Madrid,  202,  223,  224. 

Clement  VII.,  8. 

Columna,  de  la,  Miguel,  87. 

Confessions,  imperfect,  revealed 
to  the  saint,  209. 


INDEX. 


271 


Constitutions,  the,  respect  of 
St.  Teresa  for,  123,  124. 
Consultors,  the  six,  204. 
Cordova,  the  saint  in,  185 ;  re¬ 
turns  from  Seville  to,  186; 
novices  in,  187. 

Corenfjuela,  monastery  of,  120 ; 
regular  discipline  of,  restored 
by  the  saint,  121. 
Covarruvias,  de,  Don  Juan  Oroz¬ 
co,  troubles  of  foretold  by 
the  saint,  211. 

Crucifix,  a,  of  St.  Teresa,  102. 
Cuevas,  de  las,  Fra  Juan,  prior 
of  the  Dominicans,  142,  162. 

Diego,  Fra,  of  the  Conception, 
i95. 

Diego,  Fra,  of  the  Evangelist, 
230  ;  brings  false  accusations 
against  the  saint,  232,  251 ; 
not  corrected  for  his  excesses, 
233. 

Diego,  Fra,  of  the  Incarnation, 
prior  of  Peiiuela,  227,  235; 
visits  the  saint  in  his  last  ill¬ 
ness,  240. 

Diego,  Fra,  of  the  Most  Holy 
Sacrament,  178. 

Diego,  Fra,  of  the  Trinity,  sent 
to  Rome,  141 ;  made  vicar  of 
Andalucia,  147 ;  visits  Gra¬ 
nada,  148 ;  orders  the  saint 
to  found  a  monastery  of  nuns 
in  Granada,  154. 

Disputations,  public,  32. 

Doria,  87  ;  elected  fellow  of  the 
Provincial,  143;  made  vicar 
of  New  Castille,  157;  dis¬ 
liked  the  rule  of  Fra  Jerome, 
163  ;  zeal  of,  for  strict  observ¬ 
ance,  163,  164 ;  elected  pro¬ 
vincial,  172;  returns  to  Spain, 


174 ;  makes  Anne  of  Jesus 
prioress  of  Madrid,  190 ; 
elected  vicar-general  of  the 
reform,  204  ;  corrected  by  the 
saint,  205  ;  invokes  the  civil 
power  in  an  ecclesiastical 
question,  219;  persuades  his 
council  to  abandon  the  nuns, 
220 ;  deprives  the  saint  of 
the  provincialate  of  Mexico, 
225 ;  orders  an  inquiry  into 
the  conversation  of  Fra  Je¬ 
rome,  232 ;  not  always  friend¬ 
ly  to  the  saint,  234 ;  gives 
leave  for  the  removal  of  the 
saint’s  body  from  Ubeda  to 
Segovia,  261. 

Dove,  a,  seen  near  the  cell  of 
the  saint,  213. 

Duruelo,  38;  visited  by  St. 
Teresa,  39,  49;  the  saint 
arrives  in,  42;  beginning  of 
the  monastery  of,  43 ;  austere 
observance  in,  49  ;  the  friars 
abandon,  53. 

Election  of  priors,  165. 

Elias,  1,  2,  101 ;  well  of,  3. 

Elias,  Fra,  of  St.  Martin,  the 
second  vicar  of  Carmel,  233. 

Eliseus,  1,  101. 

Eugenius  IV.  mitigates  the 
Carmelite  rule,  4,  8,  28,  29. 

Fernandez,  Fra  Pedro,  visitor 
of  Carmel,  55 ;  saying  of, 

59 ;  makes  St.  Teresa  prior¬ 
ess  of  the  Incarnation  in 
Avila,  65. 

Francis,  Fra,  of  St.  Chrysos¬ 
tom,  229,  231 ;  receives  the 
saint  ungraciously  in  Ubeda, 

‘  237  ;  harsh  to  the  saint,  239  ; 


INDEX 


J72 


reprimanded  by  Fra  Antonio, 
242 ;  cuts  off  a  finger  of  the 
saint,  262, 

Francis,  Fra,  of  St.  Hilarion,  a 
lay  brother,  235. 

Francis,  Fra,  of  the  Conception, 
57 ;  prior  of  Penuela,  132. 

Freeborn,  Ralph,  returns  to 
Europe  from  Mount  Carmel,  2. 

Gabi’iel,  Fra,  of  the  Assump¬ 
tion,  57.  '  • 

Galves,  15. 

German,  Fra,  of  St.  Mathias, 
66 ;  sent  away  from  the  mon¬ 
astery  of  the  Incarnation,  82 ; 
made  a  prisoner,  89  ;  sent  to 
Moraleja,  90;  escapes  from 
prison,  94. 

Gomez,  Ruy,  duke  of  Pastrana, 
52 ;  comes  to  Alcala,  57 ; 
visits  the  saint  in  Pastrana,  64. 

Gonzalez,  Fra  Alonso,  provin¬ 
cial  of  Carmel,  40 ;  sings 
mass  in  Manzera,  53. 

Granada,  the  saint  elected  prior 
of,  146,  165,  198 ;  distress  in 
the  city  of,  166. 

Gratitude  of  the  saint,  186. 

Gregorio,  Fra,  181. 

Gregory  XIII.  severs  the  friars 
of  the  reform  from  those  of 
the  mitigation,  141. 

Gregory  XIV.  restores  peace  in 
Carmel,  221,  222. 

Grey,  Lord,  of  Codnor,  2. 

Guadalcanal*,  the  saint’s  illness 
in,  192. 

Guevara,  de,  Don  Juan,  181. 

Heredia,  de,  Antonio,  prior  of 
Medina,  10;  accepted  by  St. 
Teresa  as  a  friar  of  the  re-  | 


form,  11,  37 ;  provides  five 
hour-glasses,  44 ;  arrives  in 
Duruelo,  45 ;  found  by  St.  Te¬ 
resa  sweeping  the  door  of  the 
church,  49  ;  preaches  in  Man¬ 
zera,  51 ;  prior  of  Manzera, 
55  ;  elected  definitor,  84 ; 
summons  a  chapter  in  Almo¬ 
dovar,  116 ;  elected  provin¬ 
cial,  117  ;  ordered  into  prison 
by  the  nuncio,  119  ;  made  vi¬ 
car  of  Old  Castille,  147;  begs 
the  saint  to  leave  Penuela, 
229.;  hears  of  the  ill-treat¬ 
ment  of  the  saint  in  Ubeda, 
241,  242 ;  visits  the  saint, 
251, 253 ;  commands  the  saint 
to  bless  his  brethren,  256. 

Honorius  III.  confirms  the  Car¬ 
melite  rule,  3. 

Hontiveros,  birthplace  of  the 
saint,  13,  14,  17. 

Hulne,  priory  of,  2. 

Illness  of  the  saint,  in  Toledo 
misunderstood,  189;  in  Pe¬ 
nuela,  228. 

Incarnation,  monastery  of  the, 
4,  5 ;  St.  Teresa  made  prioress 
of,  65  ;  St.  John  of  the  Cross 
made  confessor  of,  66 ;  trou¬ 
bles  of  the  nuns  in  the,  88. 

Innocent  IV.  modifies  the  Car¬ 
melite  rule,  3,  28. 

Isabel  of  St.  Jerome,  51. 

Isabel  of  the  Incarnation  sees 
St.  Teresa  and  the  saint  in  a 
trance,  38. 

Isabel  of  the  Incarnation  in 
Granada  healed  miraculously 
by  the  saint,  169. 

Iznatorafe,  a  man  possessed  in 
127. 


INDEX. 


273 


Izquierda,  Anne,  wife  of  Fran¬ 
cis  de  Yepes,  17. 

Jerome,. Fra,  of  the  Mother  of 
God,  81, 93  ;  holds  a  chapter 
in  Almodovar,  84 ;  disobeys  the 
nuncio,  112 ;  deprived  of  his 
faculties,  113  ;  submits,  114  ; 
elected  provincial  of  the  re¬ 
formed  Carmel,  141 ;  charac¬ 
ter  of,  142,  161 ;  the  friars 
discontented  with,  144,  162  ; 
summons  a  chapter  to  be  held 
in  Lisbon,  171 ;  expulsion  of, 
from  the  order  foretold  by  the 
saint,  172 ;  made  vicar  of  Por¬ 
tugal,  174 ;  not  present  in  the 
chapter  of  Madrid,  189 ;  de-  I 
prived  of  all  rights  in  the  or¬ 
der,  203 ;  recall  of,  from  Por¬ 
tugal  determined  on,  218 ;  al¬ 
ways  defended  by  St.  John  of 
the  Cross,  223,  224. 

Job,  the  saint  compared  with 
245.  | 

John,  Fra,  of  Jesus,  prior  of 
Manzera,  114 ;  softens  the 
anger  of  the  nuncio,  115  ;  re 
primanded  by  the  nuncio,  116 ; 
imprisoned  by  his  brethren, 
117  ;  sent  to  Rome,  141. 

John,  Fra,  of  St.  Anne,  advice 
of  the  saint  to,  137,  213 ; 
asked  by  the  saint  to  find 
twelve  friars  to  go  to  the  In¬ 
dies,  228. 

John,  Fra,  of  St.  Mary,  treats 
the  saint  kindly  in  prison, 
102. 

John,  Fra,  of  the  Evangelist, 
procurator  of  the  house  in 
Granada,  151.  j 

>hn  of  the  Cross,  birth  of,  13  ;  | 


falls  into  a  pond  and  miracu¬ 
lously  rescued,  20;  appren¬ 
ticed,  21 ;  falls  into  a  well,  21 ; 
taught  in  the  school  of  the 
Jesuits,  22;  serves  in  the 
hospital,  23 ;  devout  to  our 
Lady,  24 ;  vocation  of,  25 ; 
profession  of,  27 ;  sent  to  Sa¬ 
lamanca  to  study,  29 ;  peni¬ 
tential  life  of,  31;  ordained 
priest,  33  ;  trance  of,  in  Ma- 
lagon,  38 ;  goes  to  Valladolid, 
40 ;  to  Duruelo,  42 ;  puts  on 
the  habit,  44  ;  preaches  in  the 
country  round  Duruelo,  48; 
removes  to  Manzera,  53  ;  sent 
to  Pastrana,  55,  59 ;  trains  the 
college  in  Alcala,  58 ;  made 
confessor  of  the  nuns  of  the 
Incarnation  in  Avila,  65  ;  mor¬ 
tifies  St.  Teresa,  68;  sent 
away  from  the  monastery  of 
the  Incarmation,  82 ;  in  the 
chapter  of  Almodovar  del 
Campo,  84 ;  returns  to  Avila, 
86 ;  made  prisoner  and  scourg¬ 
ed,  89 ;  sentence  of  the  judges 
of,  93 ;  harsh  treatment  of, 
in  prison,  95 ;  escapes  out  of 
prison,  105 ;  disapproves  of 
the  acts  of  the  chapter  of 
Almodovar,  117 ;  made  vicar 
of  the  priory  of  Mount  Cal¬ 
vary,  118;  restores  regular 
discipline  in  Coren^uela,  122, 
124;  founds  the  college  in 
Baeza,  132 ;  elected  definitor, 
141 ;  visit  of,  to  the  president 
of  the  chancery  of  Granada, 
148 ;  outraged  by  a  woman  in 
Granada,  157 ;  watches  over 
the  novices,  159;  reelected 
prior  of  Granada,  165 ;  wrote 


274 


INDEX. 


slowly,  1 68 ;  attends  the  chap¬ 
ters  of  Lisbon  and  Pastrana, 
171,  174;  on  his  visitations, 
177  ;  afraid  to  say  mass,  183  ; 
establishes  the  nuns  in  a 
good  house  in  Seville,  185 ; 
accompanies  Anne  of  Jesus  to 
Madrid,  190 ;  reconciles  a 
dying  apostate,  194 ;  elected 
prior  of  Granada  the  third 
time,  198 ;  portrait  of,  taken 
by  stealth,  199 ;  foretells  the 
canonisation  of  St.  Teresa, 
201 ;  elected  prior  of  Segovia, 
204 ;  neglected  in  the  chapter 
of  Madrid, n  224  ;  retires  to 
Penuela,  227 ;  ordered  to  the 
Indies,  228  ;  in  Ubeda,  237  ; 
last  illness  of,  250 ;  receives 
the  Viaticum,  252 ;  and  the 
last  anointing,  254 ;  death  of, 
257. 

Joseph,  Fra,  of  Christ,  45,  46. 

Joseph,  Fra,  of  Jesus  Maria, 
visits  the  cell  in  which  the 
saint  had  been  imprisoned,  94. 

Juan  de  la  Miseria,  Fra,  takes 
the  habit  in  Pastrana,  52. 

Juan,  Fra,  of  the  Holy  Angels, 
dream  of,  201. 

Juan  of  Avila,  converts  Baeza, 
130. 

Juliana  of  the  Mother  of  God, 
185. 

Lady,  our,  protects  the  saint,  20, 
21,  100,  187. 

Laguna,  the  Licentiate,  154. 

Leiva,  de,  Dona  Isabel,  51. 

Leonor  of  Jesus,  sister,  108. 

Letters,  of  St.  Teresa,  burnt  by 
the  saint,  214;  of  the  saint 
burnt  by  his  Mends,  232. 


Light,  miraculous,  99,  100, 107, 
196. 

Linares,  the  saint  preaches  in, 
184. 

Lisbon,  chapter  of,  171. 

Lopez,  Don  Rodrigo,  chaplain 
of  Paulo  III.,  130. 

Luis,  Fra,  de  Leon,  Augustinian, 
217 ;  attempt  to  execute  a 
Papal  brief,  219 ;  complains 
of  the  king,  220. 

Malaga,  the  saint  sent  to  make 
a  foundation  in,  168. 

Malagon,  the  nuns  of,  entertain 
the  friars,  164. 

Maldonado,  Fra  Fernando, 
prior  of  Toledo,  88;  impri¬ 
sons  the  saint,  89 ;  makes  the 
saint  wear  the  habit  of  the 
mitigation,  90. 

Mancha  Real,  the  saint  founds 
a  monastery  in,  190. 

Mantius  de  Corpore  Christi,  30. 

Manzera,  the  friars  invited  to, 
51;  monastery  founded  in,  53; 
the  saint  elected  prior  of,  88. 

Marco,  Fra,  of  St.  Francis,  bio¬ 
grapher  of  the  saint,  184. 

Mariano,  Fra,  of  St.  Benedict, 
takes  the  habit,  52 ;  in  the 
chapter  of  Lisbon,  172. 

Marmol,  Dr.,  sent  to  Rome  by 
Anne  of  Jesus,  217. 

Martin,  Fra,  of  the  Assumption, 
journey  of,  to  Seville,  with  no¬ 
vices,  188 ;  witnesses  a  mi¬ 
racle  wrought  by  the  saint, 
190, 191 ;  detects  a  penance  of 
the  saint,  192;  rebuked  by  the 
saint  for  lukewarmness,  194. 

Mary  of  Christ,  prioress  of  Ma¬ 
laga,  169. 


INDEX. 


275 


Mary  of  the  Visitation,  the  de-  I  Ojeda,  de,  Pedro,  133. 

luded  nun,  173.  Ordination  of  the  saint,  33. 

Maizelo,  Alvaro  Nunez,  sends  Ormaneto,  Monsignore,  protects 
alms  to  the  saint,  133.  the  reform,  83  ;  death  of,  86. 

Mass,  first,  of  the  saint,  33  ;  of  Orozco,  Fra  Pedro,  11,  34. 
the  saint  in  Baeza,  138 ;  in  Ortega,  de,  Don  Bartholomew, 
Caravaca,  182.  245. 

Mathias,  St.,  Juan  of  see  John  Ortega,  de,  Isabel,  penitent  of 
of  the  Cross.  St.  Peter  of  Alcantara,  7. 

Medina  del  Campo,  9  ;  Hospital  Pastrana,  duke  of— see  Gomez, 
of  the  Conception  in,  21 ;  the  Buy. 

saint  takes  the  habit  in,  26  ;  J  Pastrana,  foundation  of,  51;  in¬ 
arm  of  the  saint  brought  to,  discreet  austerities  of,  55,  59  : 
263,  266.  chapter  of,  174. 

Meekness  of  the  saint,  167.  Paz,  de  la,  Maria,  a  penitent  of 
Mendicants,  obligations  of,  85.  the  saint,  139. 

Mendoza,  de,  Don  Alvaro,  bi-  Pedro,  Fra,  of  St.  Mary,  breaks 
shop  of  Avila,  ^6,  40.  .  his  leg,  190. 

Mendoza,  de,  Dona  Maria,  sister  Pedro,  Fra,  of  the  Angels,  goes 
of  the  bishop,  40.  with  the  nuns  from  Veas  to 

Mendoza,  de,  Don  Pedro  Gon-  GranadaJ  155. 

zalez,  canon  of  Toledo,  110.  Pedro,  Fra,  of  the  Angels,  120 ; 
Mercado,  de,  Don  Luis,  154, 181,  fall  of,  prophesiedby  the  saint, 

266.  118. 

Mexico,  the  saint  elected  pro-  Pedro,  Fra,  of  the-  Mother  of 
vincial  of,  224.  God,  193. 

Missions,  foreign,  opposed  by  Penalosa,  de,  Dona  Ana,  a  peni- 
the  saint,  165.  tent  of  the  saint,  156 ;  per- 

Moraleja,  chapter  of,  82  ;  de-  suades  the  saint  to  write,  168 ; 

crees  of,  against  the  friars  of  founds  amonasteryin  Segovia, 

the  reform,  83.  181, 184,  204;  prophecy  of  the 

Muriel,  Fra  Pedro,  52.  saint  to,  226  ;  brings  the  body 

of  the  saint  to  Segovia,  261. 

Nicolas,  Fra,  of  J esus  Maria —  Penuela,  monastery  of,  120 ;  the 
see  Doria.  saint  in,  184. 

Night,  the  obscure,  128.  Perapa,  de,  Dona  Juana,  a  peni- 

Novice,  a,,  enters  the  order  by  tent  of  the  saint  in  Granada, 
fraud  in  Granada,  180.  152. 

Nun,  a  learned,  71.  Peter,  Fra,  of  the  Angels,  a  lay 

brother,  53,  55. 

Obedience,  195.  Peter,  St.,  of  Alcantara,  prophecy 

Ocampo,  de,  Maria,  niece  of  St.  of,  7. 

Teresa,  5  ;  vision  of,  6.  |  Philip  II.,  Don,  interferes  with 


276 


INDEX 


the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
113,  219. 

Piacenza,  chapter  of,  81 ;  the 
decrees  of,  notified  to  the 
saint,  92. 

Pius  II.,  4. 

Possession,  70,  71,  127,  191. 

Preachers,  the  saint’s  watchful¬ 
ness  over,  136,  176. 

Priesthood,  the,  the  saint  shrinks 
from,  24. 

Provincial,  a,  visit  of,  to  the 
saint,  177,  178. 

Rachel,  prayer  of,  12. 

Religious,  visits  of,  149. 

Requena,  birthplace  of  Fra  An¬ 
tonio,  10. 

Roman,  Dr.  Pedro,  132. 

Rossi,  Fra  Giovanni  Battista, 
General  of  the  Carmelites,  7  ; 
allows  St.  Teresa  to  found 
two  monasteries  of  friars,  8, 40. 

Salamanca,  the  saint  in,  30 ;  a 
doctor  of,  novice  in  Manzera, 
53. 

Salazar,  de,  Fra  Angel,  receives 
the  profession  of  the  saint, 
27 ;  consents  to  the  founda¬ 
tion  in  Duruelo,  40;  made 
superior  of  the  friars  of  the 
reform,  129 ;  sends  the  saint 
to  Baeza,  132. 

Salazar,  de,  Ines  and  Catherine, 
247  ;  devotion  of,  to  the  saint, 
248. 

Salcedo,  de,  Don  Francis,  41, 42. 

Sega,  Monsignore,  nuncio  of  his 
Holiness,  86 ;  prejudiced  a- 
gainst  the  reform,  87,  97, 112 ; 
appoints  visitors  of  the  reform, 
113 ;  rails  against  St.  Te¬ 


resa,  114  ;  quashes  the  acts  of 
the  chapter  of  Almodovar,  119. 

Segovia,  monastery  of,  181, 
184;  the  saint  elected  friar 
of,  204 ;  the  body  of  the  saint 
brought  to,  264. 

Segovia,  the  saint  in,  79 ;  seat 
of  the  council  of  the  order,  204; 
the  saint  made  prior  of,  205. 

Seville,  the  saint  in,  185. 

Sixtus  IV.,  4. 

Soto,  de,  Dominic,  30. 

Sotomayor,  Father,  Dominican, 
259. 

Stock,  St.  Simon,  elected  gene¬ 
ral  of  the  Carmelites,  3. 

Teresa,  St.,  first  foundation  of, 
in  Avila,  4 ;  receives  a  visit 
from  the  general,  7 ;  allowed 
to  found  monasteries,  7 ;  in 
Medina  del  Campo  accepts 
Fra  Antonio  into  her  reform, 

10  ;  sees  St.  John  of  the 
Cross,  12,  36  ;  goes  to  Duru¬ 
elo,  38,  49  ;  makes  the  habit 
of  the  first  friar  of  the  re¬ 
form,  40,  44 ;  gives  the  habit 
to  two  friars  in  Pastrana,  52  ; 
prioress  of  the  Incarnation  in 
Avila,  62,  65  ;  elected  prioress 
of  the  Incarnation,  88 ;  say¬ 
ings  of,  concerning  the  friars 
of  the  mitigation,  38,  91 ; 
anger  of,  at  the  imprisonment 
of  the  saint,  91,  111 ;  pro¬ 
cures  the  election  of  Fra  Je¬ 
rome  as  provincial,  142  ;  asks  j 
Fra  Jerome  to  let  St.  John  of  1 
the  Cross  return  to  Castille, 
145  ;  death  of,  161 ;  canonisa¬ 
tion  of,  foretold  by  the  saint,  • 
201. 


4 


INDEX. 


Teutonic),  Don,  Archbishop  of 
Evora,  217. 

Toledo,  de,  Doha  Ana,  made 
prioress  of  the  Incarnation, 
68. 

Toledo,  de,  Don  Luis,  offers  the 
friars  a  church  in  Manzera, 
51. 

Toledo,  the  saint  imprisoned  in, 
91 ;  falls  ill  in,  189. 

Tostado,  Fra  Jerome,  81 ;  dis¬ 
allows  the  election  of  St.  Te¬ 
resa,  88. 

Trinity,  the  Most  Holy,  Mass  of, 
138. 

Ubeda,  the  saint  removes  to, 
229,  237 ;  the  people  of,  de¬ 
mand  the  restoration  of  the 
body  of  the  saint,  267. 

Ulloa,  de,  Fra  Miguel,  82. 

Ureha,  de,  Francisco,  barber  of 
Segovia,  209. 

Valdemoro,  82. 

Yaldiera,  de,  Diego  Perez,  133. 

Valladolid,  the  saint  in,  48 ; 
chapter  of,  137. 

Yeas,  the  saint  visits,  119 ; 
trance  of  the  saint  in,  120 ; 
the  saint  hears.,  the  confes¬ 
sions  of  the  nuns  of,  128. 

Velasquez,  Don  Rafael  Mejia, 


277 

offers  his  house  in  Duruelo 
to  St.  Teresa,  38. 

Vesci,  Lord,  2. 

Villaroel,  de,  Martin,  237. 

Visits,  149. 

Vittoria,  a,  Francis,  30. 

Wulstan,  St.,  of  Worcester. 

Yepes,  de,  Don  Gonzalo,  13 ; 
marries,  14 ;  pious  death  of,  15. 

Yepes,  de,  Francis,  14;  nurture 
of,  in  poverty,  15 ;  neglect  of, 
by  an  aunt,  16 ;  in  Duruelo, 
48 ;  settles  in  Arevalo,  17 ; 
holy  life  of,  18 ;  sent  for  to 
Duruelo  by  his  brother,  48 ; 
in  Pastrana,  64 ;  employed  as 
a  workman  in  Granada,  199  ; 
with  the  saint  in  Segovia,  211 ; 
visits  the  body  of  his  brother, 
265 ;  receives  a  relic  of  the 
saint  from  Dona  Ana  de  Pena- 
losa,  266  ;  holy  death  of,  19. 

Yepes,  de,  Juan — see  St.  John 
of  the  Cross. 

Yera,  de,  Doha  Maria,  a  nun  of 
the  Incarnation,  66 ;  death 
of,  67. 

Zavallos,  Francis  de  Medina, 
sent  to  Ubeda  for  the  body  of 
the  saint,  262  ;  brings  the 
body  to  Madrid,  263. 


\ 


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MAR  2D ^ 

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m  2  8 

J  2007  . 

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762  fd 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


308389  4 


DOES  NOT  CIRCULATE 


w/5 


